/•S^./ge// 


Stem  f^e  feifirarg  of 

(Ret),  (^ffen  J^enrg  Q0rott?n,  ®.  ®. 

(J^equeat^e^  fig  ^im  to 
i^c  feifirarg  of 

(princefon  C^eofogtcaf  ^eminarg 


'T3X  8 9 IT  ~.'C5~T8^nj~vT7 
Chalmers,  Thomas,  1780-1847. 
The  works  of  Thomas  Chalmers 


II8RARY  OF  PRINCETON 


MAR  -  6  2005 


THEOLOGICAL  SEmtmi 


*        »  -a«  .        » 


♦\i?^: 


THE 


£e/CAL  sE^tv^ 


W  O  R  K  ^ 


OP 


THOMAS  CHALMERS,  d.d.  &  ll.d. 

PROFESSOR  OP  THEOLOGY  IN  THE   UNIVERSITY   OP  BDINBURGBj 
AND  CORRESPONDING  MEMBER   OF  THE  ROYAL  INSTITUTE  OF  FRANCE. 


TOLUME  SEVENTH 


NEW-YORK 


ROBERT    CARTEB, 

58  Canal-atreet 

1840. 


DISCOURSES 

ON  THE 

CHRISTIAN    REVELATION, 


VIEWED  IN  CONNECTION  WITH  THE 


MODERN  ASTRONOMY. 


TO  WHICH  ARE  ADDED, 

DISCOURSES 

ILLUSTRATIVE  OF  THE   CONNECTION  BETWEEN 
THEOLOGY  AND  GENERAL  SCIENCE. 


BY 

THOMAS  CHALMERS,  d.d.&ll.d. 

PROFESSOR  OF  THEOLOGY  IN  THE  UNIVERSITY  OF  EDINBURGH, 
AND  CORRESPONDINO  MEMBER  OF  THE  ROYAL  INSTITUTE  OF  FRANCE. 


VOL.  VII. 


NEW-YORK: 
ROBERT     CARTER, 

58  CANAL-STREET. 
1840. 


PREFACE. 


The  astronomical  objection  against  the  truth  of 
the  Gospel,  does  not  occupy  a  very  prominent  place 
in  any  of  our  Treatises  of  Infidelity.  It  is  often, 
however,  met  with  in  conversation — and  we  have 
known  it  to  be  the  cause  of  serious  perplexity  and 
alarm  in  minds  anxious  for  the  solid  establishment 
of  their  religious  faith. 

There  is  an  imposing  splendour  in  the  science 
of  Astronomy ;  and  it  is  not  to  be  wondered  at,  if 
the  light  it  throws,  or  appears  to  throw,  over  other 
tracks  of  speculation  than  those  which  are  properly 
its  own,  should  at  times  dazzle  and  mislead  an 
inquirer.  On  this  account,  we  think  it  were  a 
service  to  what  we  deem  a  true  and  a  righteous 
cause,  could  we  succeed  in  dissipating  this  illusion, 
and  in  stripping  Infidelity  of  those  pretensions  to 
enlargement,  and  to  a  certain  air  of  philosophical 
greatness,  by  which  it  has  often  become  so  de- 
structively alluring  to  the  young,  and  the  ardent, 
and  the  ambitious. 

In  my  first  Discourse,  I  have  attempted  a 
sketch  of  the  Modern  Astronomy — nor  have  I 
wished  to  throw  any  disguise  over  that  comparative 
littleness  which  belongs  to  our  planet,  and  which 


n  PREFACE. 

gives  to  the  argument  of  Freethinkers  all  its 
plausibility. 

This  argument  involves  in  it  an  assertion  and  an 
inference.  The  assertion  is,  that  Christianity  is  a 
religion  which  professes  to  be  designed  for  the  single 
benefit  of  our  world  ;  and  the  inference  is,  that  God 
cannot  be  the  author  of  this  religion,  for  He  would 
not  lavish  on  so  insignificant  a  field,  such  peculiar 
and  such  distinguishing  attentions,  as  are  ascribed 
to  Him  in  the  Old  and  New  Testament. 

Christianity  makes  no  such  profession.  That 
it  is  designed  for  the  single  benefit  of  our  world  is 
altogether  a  presumption  of  the  Infidel  himself — 
and  feeling  that  this  is  not  the  only  example  of 
temerity  which  can  be  charged  on  the  enemies  of 
■our  faith,  I  have  allotted  my  second  Discourse  to 
the  attempt  of  demonstrating  the  utter  repugnance 
of  such  a  spirit  with  the  cautious  and  enlightened 
philosophy  of  modern  times. 

In  the  course  of  this  Sermon  I  have  offered  a 
tribute  of  acknowledgment  to  the  theology  of  Sir 
Isaac  Newton  ;  and  in  such  terms,  as  if  not  farther 
explained,  may  be  liable  to  misconstruction.  The 
grand  circumstance  of  applause  in  the  character  of 
this  great  man,  is,  that  unseduced  by  all  the  mag- 
nificence of  his  own  discoveries,  he  had  a  solidity 
of  mind  which  could  resist  their  fascination,  and 
keep  him  in  steady  attachment  to  that  Book,  whose 
general  evidences  stamped  upon  it  the  impress  of  a 
real  communication  from  Heaven.  This  was  the 
sole  attribute  of  his  theology  which  I  had  in  my 
eye  when  I  presumed  to  eulogize  it.  I  do  not 
think,  that,  amid  the  distraction  and  the  engross 


PREFACE.  TU 

ment  of  his  other  pursuits,  he  has  at  all  times 
succeeded  in  his  interpretation  of  the  Book ;  else 
he  would  never,  in  my  apprehension,  have  abetted 
the  leading  doctrine  of  a  sect  or  a  system,  which 
has  now  nearly  dwindled  away  from  public  obser- 
vation. 

In  my  third  Discourse  I  am  silent  as  to  the 
assertion,  and  attempt  to  combat  the  inference  that 
is  founded  on  it.  I  insist,  that  upon  all  the 
analogies  of  nature  and  of  providence,  we  can  lay 
no  limit  on  the  condescension  of  God,  or  on  the 
multiplicity  of  his  regards  even  to  the  very  humblest 
departments  of  creation ;  and  that  it  is  not  for  us, 
who  see  the  evidences  of  divine  wisdom  and  care 
spread  in  such  exhaustless  profusion  around  us,  to 
say,  that  the  Deity  would  not  lavish  all  the  wealth 
of  His  wondrous  attributes  on  the  salvation  even  of 
our  solitary  species. 

At  this  point  of  the  argument,  I  trust  that  the 
intelligent  reader  may  be  enabled  to  perceive,  in 
the  adversaries  of  the  Gospel,  a  twofold  dereliction 
from  the  maxims  of  the  Baconian  philosophy  :  that, 
in  the  first  instance,  the  assertion  which  forms  the 
groundwork  of  their  argument,  is  gratuitously 
fetched  out  of  an  unknown  region,  where  they  are 
utterly  abandoned  by  the  light  of  experience  ;  and 
that,  in  the  second  instance,  the  inference  they 
urge  from  it  is,  in  the  face  of  manifold  and  unde- 
niable truths,  all  lying  within  the  safe  and  accessible 
field  of  human  observation. 

In  my  subsequent  Discourses,  I  proceed  to  the 
informations  of  the  Record.  The  Infidel  objection 
drawn  from  Astronomy,  may  be  considered  as  by 


rm  PREFACE. 

this  time  disposed  of ;  and  if  we  have  succeeded  in 
clearing  it  away,  so  as  to  deliver  the  Christian 
testimony  from  all  discredit  upon  this  ground,  then 
may  we  submit,  on  the  strength  of  other  evidences, 
to  be  guided  by  its  information.  We  shall  thus 
learn,  that  Christianity  has  a  far  more  extensive 
bearing  on  the  other  orders  of  creation,  than  the 
Infidel  is  disposed  to  allow  ;  and,  whether  he  will 
own  the  authority  of  this  information  or  not,  he 
will  at  least  be  forced  to  admit,  that  the  subject- 
matter  of  the  Bible  itself  is  not  chargeable  with 
that  objection  which  he  has  attempted  to  fasten 
upon  it. 

Thus,  had  my  only  object  been  the  refutation  of 
the  Infidel  argument,  I  might  have  spared  the  last 
Discourses  of  the  Series  altogether.  But  the 
tracks  of  Scriptural  information  to  which  they 
directed  me,  I  considered  as  worthy  of  prosecution 
on  their  own  account — and  I  do  think,  that  much 
may  be  gathered  from  these  less  observed  portions 
of  the  field  of  revelation,  to  cheer,  and  to  elevate, 
and  to  guide  the  believer. 

But  in  the  management  of  such  a  discussion  as 
this,  though  for  a  great  degree  of  this  effect  it 
would  require  to  be  conducted  in  a  far  higher  style 
than  I  am  able  to  sustain,  the  taste  of  the  human 
mind  may  be  regaled,  and  its  understanding  put 
into  a  state  of  the  most  agreeable  exercise.  Now, 
this  is  quite  distinct  from  the  conscience  being  made 
to  feel  the  force  of  a  personal  application ;  nor  could 
I  either  bring  this  argument  to  its  close  in  the 
pulpit,  or  offer  it  to  the  general  notice  of  the  world, 
without   adverting,   in   the   last  Discourse,   to  a 


PREFACE.  IX 

delusion,  which,  I  fear,  is  carrying  forward  thou- 
sands, and  tens  of  thousands,  to  an  undone  eternity. 
I  have  closed  the  Series  with  an  Appendix  of 
Scriptural  Authorities,  I  found  that  I  could  not 
easily  interweave  them  in  the  texture  of  the  Work, 
and  have,  therefore,  thought  fit  to  present  them  in 
a  separate  form.  I  look  for  a  twofold  benefit 
from  this  exhibition — first,  to  those  more  general 
readers,  who  are  ignorant  of  the  Scriptures,  and 
of  the  richness  and  variety  which  abound  in  them 

and,  secondly,   to  those  narrow  and  intolerant 

professors,  who  take  an  alarm  at  the  very  sound 
and  semblance  of  philosophy  ;  and  feel  as  if  there 
was  an  utterly  irreconcilable  antipathy  between  its 
lessons  on  the  one  hand,  and  the  soundness  and 
piety  of  the  Bible  on  the  other.  It  were  well,  I 
conceive,  for  our  cause,  that  the  latter  could  be- 
come a  little  more  indulgent  on  this  subject ;  that 
they  gave  up  a  portion  of  those  ancient  and  here- 
ditary prepossessions,  which  go  so  far  to  cramp 
and  to  enthral  them;  that  they  would  suffer 
theology  to  take  that  wide  range  of  argument  and 
of  illustration  which  belongs  to  her  ;  and  that,  less 
sensitively  jealous  of  any  desecration  being  brought 
upon  the  Sabbath  or  the  pulpit,  they  would  suffer 
her  freely  to  announce  all  those  truths,  which  either 
serve  to  protect  Christianity  from  the  contempt  of 
science,  or  to  protect  the  teachers  of  Christianity 
from  those  invasions,  which  are  practised  both  on 
the  sacredness  of  the  office,  and  on  the  solitude  of 
its  devotional  and  intellectual  labours. 

To  these  Astronomical  Discourses,  I  have  added 
some  others,  illustrative  of  the  connexion  between 


PREFACE. 


Theology  and  General  Science.  The  argument 
on  which  we  have  ventured  in  one  of  these 
Discourses,  and  by  which  we  attempt  to  reconcile 
the  efficacy  of  prayer  with  the  constancy  of  visible 
nature,  was  called  forth  in  opposition  to  the  con- 
temptuous treatment,  which  certain  members  of  the 
British  Senate  thought  fit  to  bestow  on  the  proposal 
for  a  National  Fast,  at  a  time  when  the  fearful 
epidemic  of  cholera  had  broke  forth  in  various  parts 
of  the  country. 


CONTENTS. 


DISCOURSE  I. 

A  SKETCH  OF  THE  MODERN  ASTRONOMY. 

"  When  I  consider  thy  heavens,  the  work  of  thy  fingers, 
the  moon  and  the  stars,  which  thou  hast  ordained ;  What 
is  man,  that  thou  art  mindful  of  him?  and  the  son  of  man, 
that  thou  visitest  him  ?" — Psalm  viii.  3,4..         .         .15 

DISCOURSE  II. 

THE  MODESTY  OF  TRUE  SCIENCE. 

•*  And  if  any  man  think  that  he  knoweth  any  thing,  he 
knoweth  nothing  yet  as  he  ought  to  know. " — 1  Cor.  viii.  2.     42 

DISCOURSE  III. 

ON  THE  EXTENT  OF  THE  DIVINE  CONDESCENSION. 

«  Who  is  like  unto  the  Lord  our  God,  who  dwelleth  on 
high  ?  Who  humbleth  himself  to  behold  the  things  that 
are  in  heaven,  and  in  the  earth  !" — Psalm  cxiii.  5,  6.     .     68 

DISCOURSE  IV. 

ON  THE  KNOWLEDGE  OF  MAN'S  MORAL  HISTORY  IN  THE 
DISTANT  PLACES  OF  CREATION. 

•'  Which  things  the  angels  desire  to  look  into." — 1  Pet.  i.  12.     90 
DISCOURSE  V. 

ON  THE  SYMPATHY  THAT  IS  FELT  FOR  MAN  IN   THE  DISTANT 
PLACES  OF  CREATION. 

'*  I  say  vmtc  you.  That  likewise  joy  shall  he  in  heaven  over 
one  sinner  that  repeuteth,  more  than  over  ninety  and  nine 
just  persons,  which  need  no  repentance." — Luke  xv.  7.  .   113 


Xll  CONTENTS^ 

DISCOURSE  VI. 

ON  THE  CONTEST  FOR  AN  ASCENDANCY  OVER  MAN,  AUOVQn 
THE  HIGHER  ORDERS  OF  INTELLIGENCE. 

"  And,  having  spoiled  principalities  and  powers,  he  made  a 
show  of  them  openly,  triumphing  over  them  in  it." — Co- 
LOSSIANS  ii.  15 S3 

DISCOURSE   VII. 

ON  THE  SLENDER  INFLUENCE  OF  MERE  TASTE   AND  SENSIBILITY 
IN  MATTERS  OF  RELIGION. 

'*  And,  lo !  thou  art  unto  them  as  a  very  lovely  song  of  one 
that  hath  a  pleasant  voice,  and  can  play  well  on  an  instru- 
ment :  for  they  hear  thy  words,  but  they  do  them  not." 
— EzEKiEL  xxxiii.  32.  .  .  .  .  .152 

APPENDIX, 181 


DISCOURSES   OF  A   KINDRED  CHARACTER  WITH    THE  PRECEDING, 

DISCOURSE  I. 

THE  CONSTANCY  OF  GOD  IN  HIS   WORKS  AN  ARGUMENT  FOR  TH£ 
FAITHFULNESS  OF  GOD  IN  HIS  WORD. 

**  For  ever,  O  Lord,  thy  word  is  settled  in  heaven.  Thy  faith- 
fulness is  unto  all  generations :  thou  hast  established  the 
earth,  and  it  abid^th.  They  continue  this  day  according 
to  thine  ordinances.-  for  all  are  thy  servants." — Psalm 
cxix.  89,  90,  91. 203 

DISCOURSE  II. 

ON  THE  CONSISTENCY  BETWEEN  THE  EFFICACY  OF  PRAYER— 
AND  THE  UNIFORMITY  OF  NATURE. 

«  Knowing  this  first,  that  there  shall  come  in  the  last  days 
scoffers,  walking  after  their  own  lusts, — and  saying,  Where 
is  the  promise  of  his  coming  ?  for  since  the  fathers  fell 
asleep,  all  things  continue  as  they  were  from  the  beginning 
of  the  creation."— 2^pET£Riii.  3,  4 234 


CONTENTS.  XU'. 

DISCOURSE  III. 

THE  TRANSITORY  NATURE  OF  VISIBLE  THINGS, 

•*  The  things  which  are  seen  are  temporal." — 2  Cor.  iv.  18.  263 
DISCOURSE  IV. 

ON  THE  NEW  HEAVENS  AND  THE  NEW  EARTH. 

**  Nevertheless  we,  according  to  his  promise,  look  for  new 
heavens  and  a  new  earth,  wherein  dwelleth  righteousness." 
— 2  Peter  iii.  13.        .          .  ....  280 

DISCOURSE  V. 

THE  NATURE  OF  THE   KINGDOM  OF  GOD. 

"  For  the  kingdom  of  God  is  not  in  word,  but  in  power." 

1  Cor.  iv.  20 30o 

DISCOURSE  VI. 

HEAVEN  A  CHARACTER  AND  NOT  A  LOCALITY. 

*•  He  that  is  unjust,  let  him  be  unjust  still :  and  he  which  is 
filthy,  let  him  be  filthy  still :  and  he  that  is  righteous,  let 
him  be  righteous  still :  and  he  that  is  holy,  let  him  be  holy 
still." — Rev,  xxii.  11. 320 

DISCOURSE  VII. 

ON  THE  REASONABLENESS  OF  FAITH. 

"  But  before  faith  came,  we  were  kept  under  the  law,  shut 
up  unto  the  faith  which  should  afterwards  be  revealed."— 
Galatians  iii.  23 389 


15 


DISCOURSE  I. 

A  SKETCH  OF  THE  MODERN  ASTRONOMY. 


"  Wnen  I  consider  thy  heavens,  the  work  of  thy  fingers,  the 
moon  and  the  stars,  which  thou  hast  ordained;  What  is 
man,  that  thou  art  mindful  of  him?  and  the  son  of  man, 
that  thou  visitest  him  ?" — Psalm  viii.  3,  4. 

In  the  reasonings  of  the  Apostle  Paul,  we  cannot 
fail  to  observe,  how  studiously  he  accommodates 
his  argum^ents  to  the  pursuits  or  principles  or  pre- 
judices of  the  people  whom  he  was  addressing. 
He  often  made  a  favourite  opinion  of  their  own  the 
starting  point  of  his  explanation ;  and,  educing  a 
dexterous  but  irresistible  train  of  argument  from 
some  principle  upon  which  each  of  the  parties  had 
a  common  understanding,  it  was  his  practice  to 
force  them  out  of  all  their  opposition,  by  a  weapon 
of  their  own  choosing, — nor  did  he  scruple  to  avail 
himself  of  a  Jewish  peculiarity,  or  a  heathen  su- 
perstition, or  a  quotation  from  Greek  poetry,  by 
which  he  might  gain  the  attention  of  those  whom  he 
laboured  to  convince,  and  by  the  skilful  application 
of  which  he  might  "  shut  them  up  unto  the  faith." 
Now,  when  Paul  was  thus  addressing  one  class 
of  an  assembly,  or  congregation,  another  class 
might,  for  the  time,  have  been  shut  out  of  all  direct 


16  SKETCH  OF  MODERN  ASTRONOMY. 

benefit  and  application  from  his  arguments.  When 
he  wrote  an  Epistle  to  a  mixed  assembly  of  Chris- 
tianized Jews  and  Gentiles,  he  had  often  to  direct 
such  a  process  of  argument  to  the  former,  as  the 
latter  would  neither  require  nor  comprehend. 
Now,  what  should  have  been  the  conduct  of  the 
Gentiles  at  the  reading  of  that  part  of  the  Epistle 
which  bore  almost  an  exclusive  reference  to  the 
Jews  ?  Should  it  be  impatience  at  the  hearing  of 
something  for  which  they  had  no  reHsh  or  under- 
standing? Should  it  be  a  fretful  disappointment, 
because  every  thing  that  v-as  said,  was  not  said  for 
their  edification  ?  Should  it  be  angry  discontent 
with  the  Apostle,  because,  leaving  them  in  the  dark, 
he  had  brought  forward  nothing  for  them,  through 
the  whole  extent  of  so  many  successive  chapters? 
Some  of  them  may  have  felt  in  this  way ;  but 
surely  it  would  have  been  vastly  more  Christian  to 
have  sat  with  meek  and  unfeigned  patience,  and  to 
have  rejoiced  that  the  great  Apostle  had  undertaken 
the  management  of  those  obstinate  prejudices, 
which  kept  back  so  many  human  beings  from  the 
participation  of  the  Gospel.  And  should  Paul 
have  had  reason  to  rejoice,  that,  by  the  success  of 
his  arguments,  he  had  reconciled  one  or  any  number 
of  Jews  to  Christianity,  then  it  was  the  part  of 
these  Gentiles,  though  receiving  no  direct  or  per- 
sonal benefit  from  the  arguments,  to  have  blessed 
God,  and  rejoiced  along  with  him. 

Conceive  that  Paul  were  at  this  moment  alive, 
and  zealously  engaged  in  the  work  of  pressing  the 
Christian  religion  on  the  acceptance  of  the  various 
classes  of  society.      Should  he  not  still  have  acted 


SKETCH  OF  MODERN  ASTRONOMY.  17 

on  the  principle  of  being  all  things  to  all  men? 
Should  he  not  have  accommodated  his  discussion  to 
the  prevailing  taste,  and  hterature,  and  philosophy 
of  the  times  ?  Should  he  not  have  closed  Avith  the 
people,  whom  he  was  addressing,  on  some  favourite 
principle  of  their  own ;  and,  in  the  prosecution  of 
this  principle,  might  he  not  have  got  completely 
beyond  the  comprehension  of  a  numerous  class  of 
zealous,  humble,  and  devoted  Christians  ?  Now, 
the  question  is  not,  how  these  would  conduct  them- 
selves in  such  circumstances  ?  but,  how  should  they 
do  it?  Would  it  be  right  in  them  to  sit  with 
impatience,  because  the  argument  of  the  Apostle 
contained  in  it  nothing  in  the  way  of  comfort  or 
edification  to  themselves  ?  Should  not  the  bene- 
volence of  the  Gospel  give  a  different  direction  to 
their  feelings?  And,  instead  of  that  narrow, 
exclusive,  and  monopolising  spirit,  which  I  fear  is 
too  characteristic  of  the  more  declared  professors 
of  the  truth  as  it  is  in  Jesus,  ought  they  not  to 
be  patient,  and  to  rejoice,  when  to  philosophers, 
and  to  men  of  literary  accomplishment,  and  to  those 
who  have  the  direction  of  the  public  taste  among 
the  upper  walks  of  society,  such  arguments  are 
addressed  as  may  bring  home  to  their  acceptance 
also,  "  the  words  of  this  life  ?"  It  is  under  the 
impulse  of  these  considerations  that  I  have,  with 
some  hesitation,  prevailed  upon  myself  to  attempt 
an  argument,  which  I  think  fitted  to  soften  and 
subdue  those  prejudices  which  lie  at  the  bottom  of 
what  may  be  called  the  infidelity  of  natural  science; 
it  possible  to  bring  over  to  the  humility  of  the  Gos- 
pel, those  who  expatiate  with  delight  on  the  won- 


18  SKETCH  OF  MODERN  ASTRONOMY. 

ders  and  the  sublimities  of  creation ;  and  to  con- 
vince them,  that  a  loftier  wisdom  still  than  that 
even  of  their  high  and  honourable  acquirements,  is 
the  wisdom  of  him  who  is  resolved  to  know  nothing 
but  Jesus  Christ  and  Him  crucified. 

It  is  truly  a  most  Christian  exercise  to  extract 
a  sentiment  of  piety  from  the  works  and  the  ap- 
pearances of  nature.  It  has  the  authority  of  the 
Sacred  Writers  upon  its  side,  and  even  our  Saviour 
himself  gives  it  the  weight  and  the  solemnity  of  his 
example.  "  Behold  the  lilies  of  the  field;  they  toil 
not,  neither  do  they  spin,  yet  your  heavenly  Father 
careth  for  them."  He  expatiates  on  the  beauty 
of  a  single  flower,  and  draws  from  it  the  delightful 
argument  of  confidence  in  God.  He  gives  us  to 
see  that  taste  may  be  combined  with  piety,  and  that 
the  same  heart  may  be  occupied  with  all  that  is 
serious  in  the  contemplations  of  religion,  and  be  at 
the  same  time  alive  to  the  charms  and  the  loveliness 
of  nature. 

The  Psalmist  takes  a  still  loftier  flight.  He 
leaves  the  world,  and  lifts  his  imagination  to  that 
mighty  expanse  which  spreads  above  it  and  around 
it.  He  wings  his  way  through  space,  and  wanders 
in  thought  over  its  immeasurable  regions.  Instead 
of  a  dark  and  unpeopled  solitude,  he  sees  it  crowded 
with  splendour,  and  filled  with  the  energy  of  the 
Divine  presence.  Creation  rises  in  its  immensity 
before  him ;  and  the  w^orld,  with  all  which  it  inherits, 
shrinks  into  littleness  at  a  contemplation  so  vast 
and  so  overpowering.  He  wonders  that  he  is  not 
overlooked  amid  the  grandeur  and  the  variety  which 
arc  on  every  side  of  him  j  and  passing  upward  from 


SKETCH  OF  MODERN  ASTRONOMY,  19 

the  majesty  of  nature  to  the  majesty  of  nature's 
Architect,  he  exclaims,  "What  is  man,  that  thou 
art  mindful  of  him  ;  or  the  son  of  man,  that  thou 
shouldest  deign  to  visit  him  ?" 

It  is  not  for  us  to  say,  whether  inspiration  re- 
vealed to  the  Psalmist  the  wonders  of  the  modern 
astronomy.  But  even  though  the  mind  be  a  perfect 
stranger  to  the  science  of  these  enlightened  times, 
the  heavens  present  a  great  and  an  elevating  spec- 
tacle— an  immense  concave  reposing  upon  the 
circular  boundary  of  the  world,  and  the  innumerable 
lights  which  are  suspended  from  on  high,  moving 
with  solemn  regularity  along  its  surface.  It  seems  to 
have  been  at  night  that  the  piety  of  the  Psalmist  was 
awakened  by  this  contemplation,  when  the  moon  and 
the  stars  were  visible,  and  not  when  the  sun  had  risen 
in  his  strength,  and  thrown  a  splendour  around 
him,  which  bore  down  and  eclipsed  all  the  lesser 
glories  of  the  firmament.  And  there  is  much  in  the 
scenery  of  a  nocturnal  sky,  to  lift  the  soul  to  pious 
contemplation.  That  moon,  and  these  stars,  what 
are  they  ?  They  are  detached  from  the  world,  and  they 
lift  us  above  it.  We  feel  withdrawn  from  the  earth, 
and  rise  in  lofty  abstraction  from  this  little  theatre  of 
human  passions  and  human  anxieties.  The  mind 
abandons  itself  to  reverie,  and  is  transferred  in  the 
ecstasy  of  its  thoughts,  to  distant  and  unexplored 
regions.  It  sees  nature  in  the  simplicity  of  her  great 
elements,  and  it  sees  the  God  of  nature  invested  with 
the  high  attributes  of  wisdom  and  majesty. 

But  what  can  these  lights  be  ?  The  curiosity  of 
l!,e  human  mind  is  insatiable;  and  the  mechanism  of 
these  wonderful  heavens  has,  in  all  ages,  been  its 


20  SKETCH   OF  MODERN  ASTRONOMY. 

sutjieet  and  its  employment.  It  has  been  reserved 
for  these  latter  times,  to  resolve  this  great  and 
interesting  question.  The  sublimest  powers  of 
philosophy  have  been  called  to  the  exercise,  and 
astronomy  may  now  be  looked  upon  as  the  most 
certain  and  best  estabhshed  of  the  sciences. 

We  all  know  that  every  visible  object  appears 
less  in  magnitude  as  it  recedes  from  the  eye.  The 
lofty  vessel,  as  it  retires  from  the  coast,  shrinks 
into  littleness,  and  at  last  appears  in  the  form  of  a 
small  speck  on  the  verge  of  the  horizon.  The 
eagle,  with  its  expanded  wings,  is  a  noble  object; 
but  when  it  takes  its  flight  into  the  upper  regions 
of  the  air,  it  becomes  less  to  the  eye,  and  is  seen 
like  a  dark  spot  upon  the  vault  of  heaven.  The 
same  is  true  of  all  magnitude.  The  heavenly  bodies 
appear  small  to  the  eye  of  an  inhabitant  of  tliis 
earth,  only  from  the  immensity  of  their  distance. 
When  we  talk  of  hundreds  of  millions  of  miles,  it 
is  not  to  be  listened  to  as  incredible.  For  remem- 
ber that  we  are  talking  of  those  bodies  which  are 
scattered  over  the  immensity  of  space,  and  that 
space  knows  no  termination.  The  conception  is 
great  and  difficult,  but  the  truth  is  unquestionable. 
By  a  process  of  measurement  which  it  is  unne- 
cessary at  present  to  explain,  we  have  ascertained 
first  the  distance,  and  then  the  magnitude  of  some 
of  those  bodies  which  roll  in  the  firmament ;  that 
the  sun  v/hich  presents  itself  to  the  eye  under  so 
diminutive  a  form,  is  really  a  globe,  exceeding,  by 
many  thousands  of  times,  the  dimensions  of  the 
earth  which  we  inhabit ;  that  the  moon  itself  has 
the  masrnitude  of  a  world ;  and  that  even  a  few  of 


SKETCH  OF  MODERN  ASTRONOMY.  21 

those  stars,  which  appear  like  so  many  lucid  points 
to  the  unassisted  eye  of  the  observer,  expand  into 
large  circles  upon  the  application  of  the  telescope, 
and  are  some  of  them  much  larger  than  the  ball 
which  we  tread  upon,  and  to  which  we  proudly 
apply  the  denomination  of  the  universe. 

Now,  what  is  the  fair  and  obvious  presumption  ? 
The  world  in  which  we  live,  is  a  round  ball  of  a 
determined  magnitude,  and  occupies  its  own  place 
in  the  firmament.  But  when  we  explore  the 
unhmited  tracts  of  that  space,  which  is  every  where 
around  us,  we  meet  with  other  balls  of  equal  or 
superior  magnitude,  and  from  which  our  earth 
would  either  be  invisible,  or  appear  as  small  as 
any  of  those  twinkhng  stars  which  are  seen  on  the 
canopy  of  heaven.  Why  then  suppose  that  this 
little  spot,  little  at  least  in  the  immensity  which 
surrounds  it,  should  be  the  exclusive  abode  of  life 
and  of  intelligence  ?  What  reason  to  think  that 
those  mightier  globes  which  roll  in  other  parts  of 
creation,  and  which  we  have  discovered  to  be 
worlds  in  magnitude,  are  not  also  worlds  in  use  and 
in  dignity  ?  Why  should  we  think  that  the  great 
Architect  of  nature,  supreme  in  wisdom,  as  He  is 
in  power,  would  call  these  stately  mansions  into 
existence  and  leave  them  unoccupied  ?  When  we 
cast  our  eye  over  the  broad  sea,  and  look  at  the 
country  on  the  other  side,  we  see  nothing  but  the 
blue  land  stretching  obscurely  over  the  distant  ho- 
rizon. We  are  too  far  away  to  perceive  the  richness 
of  its  scenery,  or  to  hear  the  sound  of  its  population 
Why  not  extend  this  principle  to  the  still  more 
distant  parts  of  the  universe  ?      What  though,  from 


22  SKETCH  OF  MODERN   ASTRONOMY. 

lEis  remote  point  of  observation,  we  can  see  nothing 
but  the  naked  roundness  of  yon  planetary  orbs  ? 
Are  we  therefore  to  say,  that  they  are  so  many  vast 
and  unpeopled  solitudes ;  that  desolation  reigns  in 
every  part  of  the  universe  but  ours ;  that  the  whole 
energy  of  the  divine  attributes  is  expended  on  one 
insignificant  corner  of  these  mighty  works ;  and  that 
to  this  earth  alone  belongs  the  bloom  of  vegetation, 
or  the  blessedness  of  life,  or  the  dignity  of  rational 
and  immortal  existence  ? 

But  this  is  not  all.  We  have  something  more 
than  the  mere  magnitude  of  the  planets  to  allege  in 
favour  of  the  idea  that  they  are  inhabited.  We  know 
that  this  earth  turns  round  upon  itself;  and  we 
observe  that  all  those  celestial  bodies,  which  are 
accessible  to  such  an  observation,  have  the  same 
movement.  We  know  that  the  earth  performs  a 
yearly  revolution  round  the  sun  ;  and  we  can  detect, 
in  all  the  planets  which  compose  our  system,  a  re- 
volution of  the  same  kind,  and  under  the  same 
circumstances.  They  have  the  same  succession  of 
day  and  night.  They  have  the  same  agreeable 
vicissitude  of  the  seasons.  To  them  light  and 
darkness  succeed  each  other;  and  the  gaiety  of 
summer  is  followed  by  the  dreariness  of  winter. 
To  each  of  them  the  heavens  present  as  varied 
and  magnificent  a  spectacle;  and  this  earth,  the 
encompassing  of  which  would  require  the  labour  of 
years  from  one  of  its  puny  inhabitants,  is  but  one 
of  the  lesser  lights  which  sparkle  in  their  firmament. 
To  them,  as  well  as  to  us,  has  God  divided  the  light 
from  the  darkness,  and  he  has  called  the  light  day, 
and  the  darkness  he  has  called  night.     He  has  said, 


SKETCH  OF  MODERN  ASTRONOMY.  23 

let  there  be  lights  in  the  firmament  of  their 
heaven,  to  divide  the  day  from  the  night;  and 
let  them  be  for  signs,  and  for  seasons,  and  for  days, 
and  for  years ;  and  let  them  be  for  lights  in  the 
firmament  of  heaven,  to  give  light  upon  their  earth ; 
and  it  was  so.  And  God  has  also  made  to  them 
great  lights.  To  all  of  them  he  has  given  the  sun 
to  rule  the  day ;  and  to  many  of  them  has  he  given 
moons  to  rule  the  night.  To  them  he  has  made 
the  stars  also.  And  God  has  set  them  in  the 
firmament  of  heaven,  to  give  light  upon  their  earth ; 
and  to  rule  over  the  day,  and  over  the  night,  and 
to  divide  the  light  from  the  darkness ;  and  God  has 
seen  that  it  was  good. 

In  all  these  greater  arrangements  of  divine 
wisdom,  we  can  see  that  God  has  done  the  same 
things  for  the  accommodation  of  the  planets  that  he 
has  done  for  the  earth  which  we  inhabit.  And 
shall  we  say,  that  the  resemblance  stops  here, 
because  we  are  not  in  a  situation  to  observe  it  ? 
Shall  we  say,  that  this  scene  of  magnificence  has 
been  called  into  being  merely  for  the  amusement 
of  a  few  astronomers?  Shall  we  measure  the 
councils  of  heaven  by  the  narrow  impotence  of  the 
human  faculties  ?  or  conceive,  that  silence  and 
solitude  reign  throughout  the  mighty  empire  of 
nature ;  that  the  greater  part  of  creation  is  an  empty 
parade  ;  and  that  not  a  worshipper  of  the  Divinity 
is  to  be  found  through  the  wide  extent  of  yon  vast 
and  immeasurable  regions  ? 

It  lends  a  delightful  confirmation  to  the  argu- 
ment, when,  from  the  growing  perfection  of  our 
instruments,   we    can   discover   a   new   point    of 


24  SKETCH  OF  MODERN  ASTRONOMY. 

resemblance  between  our  Earth  and  the  other  bo- 
dies of  the  planetary  system.  It  is  now  Ascertain- 
ed, not  merely  that  all  of  them  have  their  day  and 
night,  and  that  all  of  them  have  their  vicissitudes 
of  seasons,  and  that  some  of  them  have  their  moons 
to  rule  their  night  and  alleviate  the  darkness  of  it ; 

we  can  see  of  one,  that  its  surface  rises  into  in- 

equaUties,  that  it  swells  into  mountains  and  stretches 
into  valleys ;  of  another,  that  it  is  surrounded  by 
an  atmosphere  which  may  support  the  respiration 
of  animals ;  of  a  third,  that  clouds  are  formed  and 
suspended  over  it,  which  may  minister  to  it  all 
the  bloom  and  luxuriance  of  vegetation ;  and  of  a 
fourth,  that  a  white  colour  spreads  over  its  northern 
regions,  as  its  winter  advances,  and  that,  on  the 
approach  of  summer,  this  whiteness  is  dissipated — 
giving  room  to  suppose,  that  the  element  of  water 
abounds  in  it,  that  it  rises  by  evaporation  into  its 
atmosphere,  that  it  freezes  upon  the  application  of 
cold,  that  it  is  precipitated  in  the  form  of  snow,  that 
it  covers  the  ground  with  a  fleecy  mantle,  which 
melts  away  from  the  heat  of  a  more  vertical  sun ; 
and  that  other  worlds  bear  a  resemblance  to  our 
own,  in  the  same  yearly  round  of  beneficent  and 
interesting  changes. 

Who  shall  assign  a  limit  to  the  discoveries  of 
future  ages  ?  Who  can  prescribe  to  science  her 
boundaries,  or  restrain  the  active  and  msatiable 
curiosity  of  man  within  the  circle  of  his  present 
acquirements?  We  may  guess  with  plausibility 
what  we  cannot  anticipate  with  confidence.  The 
day  may  yet  be  coming,  when  our  instruments  of 
observation  shall  be  inconceivably  more  powerful 


SKETCH  OF  MODERN  ASTRONOMY.  25 

They  may  ascertain  still  more  decisive  points  of 
resemblance.  They  may  resolve  the  same  ques- 
tion by  the  evidence  of  sense,  which  is  now  so 
abundantly  convincing  by  the  evidence  of  analogy. 
They  may  lay  open  to  us  the  unquestionable  ves- 
tiges of  art,  and  industry,  and  intelligence.  We 
may  see  summer  throwing  its  green  mantle  over 
these  mighty  tracts,  and  we  may  see  them  left 
naked  and  colourless  after  the  flush  of  vegetation 
has  disappeared.  In  the  progress  of  years  or  of 
centuries,  we  may  trace  the  hand  of  cultivation 
spreading  a  new  aspect  over  some  portion  of  a 
planetary  surface.  Perhaps  some  large  city,  the 
metropolis  of  a  mighty  empire,  may  expand  into  a 
visible  spot  by  the  powers  of  some  future  telescope. 
Perhaps  the  glass  of  some  observer,  in  a  distant 
age,  may  enable  him  to  construct  the  map  of  ano- 
ther world,  and  to  lay  down  the  surface  of  it  in  all 
its  minute  and  topical  varieties.  But  there  is  no 
end  of  conjecture ;  and  to  the  men  of  other  times 
we  leave  the  full  assurance  of  what  we  can  assert 
with  the  highest  probabihty,  that  yon  planetary 
orbs  are  so  many  worlds,  that  they  teem  with  life, 
and  that  the  mighty  Being  who  presides  in  high 
authority  over  this  scene  of  grandeur  and  astonish- 
ment, has  there  planted  the  worshippers  of  His 
glory. 

Did  the  discoveries  of  science  stop  here,  we 
have  enough  to  justify  the  exclamation  of  the  Psal- 
mist, "  What  is  man,  that  thou  art  mindful  of  him; 
or  the  son  of  man,  that  thou  shouldest  deign  to 
Msit  him  ?"  They  widen  the  empire  of  creation 
far  beyond  the  limits  which  were  formerly  assigned 

vol;  VII.  B 


26  SKETCH  OF  MODERN  ASTRONOMY. 

to  it.      They  give  us  to  see  that  yon  sun,  throned 
in  the  centre  of  his  planetary  system,  gives  Ught, 
and  warmth,  and  the  vicissitude  of  seasons,  to  an 
extent  of  surface  several  hundreds  of  times  greater 
than  that  of  the  earth  which  we  inhabit.      They 
lay  open  to  us  a  number  of  worlds,  rolling  in  their 
respective  circles  around  this  vast  luminary — and 
prove,  that  the  ball  which  we  tread  upon,  with  all 
its  mighty  burden  of  oceans  and  continents,  instead 
of  being  distinguished  from  the  others,  is  among 
the  least  of  them ;  and,  from   some  of  the  more 
distant  planets,  would  not  occupy  a  visible  point  in 
the  concave  of  their  firmament.    They  let  us  know, 
that  though  this  mighty  earth,  with  all  its  myriads 
of  people,  were  to  sink  into  annihilation,  there  are 
some  worlds  where  an  event  so  awful  to  us  would 
be  unnoticed  and  unknown,  and  others  where  it 
would  be  nothing  more  than  the  disappearance  ot 
a  little  star  which  had  ceased  from  its  twinkling. 
We  should  feel  a  sentiment  of  modesty  at  this  just 
but  humiliating  representation.      We  should  learn 
not  to  look  on  our  earth  as  the  universe  of  God, 
but  one  paltry  and  insignificant  portion  of  it ;  that 
it  is  only  one  of  the  many  mansions  which  the  Su- 
preme Being  has  created  for  the  accommodation 
of  His  worshippers,  and   only   one   of  the  many 
worlds  rolling  in  that  flood  of  light  which  the  sun 
pours  around  him  to  the  outer  limits  of  the  plane- 
tary system. 

But  is  there  nothing  beyond  these  limits  ?  The 
planetary  system  has  its  boundary,  but  space  has 
Vione  ;  and  if  we  wing  our  fancy  there,  do  we  only 
aavel  through  dark  and  unoccupied  regions  ?  There 


SKETCH  OF  MODERN  ASTRONOMY.  27 

are  only  five,  or  at  most  six,  of  the  planetary  orbs 
visible  to  the  naked  eye.  What,  then,  is  that 
multitude  of  other  lights  which  sparkle  in  our  fir- 
mament, and  fill  the  whole  concave  of  heaven  with 
innumerable  splendours?  The  planets  are  all 
attached  to  the  sun ;  and,  in  circling  around  him, 
they  do  homage  to  that  influence  which  binds  them 
to  perpetual  attendance  on  this  great  luminary. 
But  the  other  stars  do  not  own  his  dominion. 
They  do  not  circle  around  him.  To  all  common 
observation,  they  remain  immoveable  ;  and  each, 
like  the  independent  sovereign  of  his  own  territory, 
appears  to  occupy  the  same  inflexible  position  in 
the  regions  of  immensity.  What  can  we  make  of 
them?  Shall  we  take  our  adventurous  flight  to 
explore  these  dark  and  untravelled  dominions  ? 
What  mean  these  innumerable  fires  lighted  up  in 
distant  parts  of  the  universe?  Are  they  only 
made  to  shed  a  feeble  glimmering  over  this  little 
spot  in  the  kingdom  of  nature  ?  or  do  they  serve 
a  purpose  worthier  of  themselves,  to  light  up  other 
worlds,  and  give  animation  to  other  systems  ? 

The  first  thing  which  strikes  a  scientific  observ- 
er of  the  fixed  stars,  is  their  immeasurable  distance. 
If  the  whole  planetary  system  were  lighted  up  into 
a  globe  of  fire,  it  would  exceed,  by  many  millions 
of  times,  the  magnitude  of  this  world,  and  yet  only 
appear  a  small  lucid  point  from  the  nearest  of  them. 
If  a  body  were  projected  from  the  sun  with  the 
velocity  of  a  cannon-ball,  it  would  take  hundreds 
of  thousands  of  years  before  it  described  that 
mighty  interval  which  separates  the  nearest  of  the 
fixed  stars  from  our  sun  and  from  our  system.     If 


28  SKETCH   OF  MODERN  ASTRONOMY. 

this  earth,  which  moves  at  more  than  the  incon^ 
ceivable  velocity  of  a  milKon  and  a  half  miles  a-day, 
were  to  be  hurried  from  its  orbit,  and  to  take  the 
same  rapid  flight  over  this  immense  tract,  it  v/ould 
not  have  arrived  at  the  termination  of  its  journey, 
after  taking  all  the  time  ^vhich  has   elapsed  since 
the  creation  of  the  world.     These  are  great  num- 
bers, and  great  calculations ;  and  the   mind  feels 
its  own  impotency  in  attempting  to  grasp   them. 
We  can  state   them  in  words.     We  can  exhibit 
them  in  figures.     We  can  demonstrate  them  by 
the  powers  of  a  most  rigid  and  infallible  geometry. 
But  no  human  fancy  can  summon  up  a  lively  or  an 
adequate  conception — can  roam  in  its  ideal  flight 
over  this  immeasurable  largeness — can  take  in  this 
mighty  space  in  all  its  grandeur,  and  in  all  its  im- 
mensity— can  sweep  the  outer  boundaries  of  such 
a  creation — or  lift  itself  up  to  the  majesty  of  that 
great  and  invisible  arm  on  which  all  is  suspended. 
But  what  can  those  stars  be  which  are  seated 
so  far  beyond  the  limits  of  our  planetary  system  ? 
They  must  be  masses  of  immense  magnitude,  or 
they  could  not  be  seen  at  the   distance  of  place 
which  they  occupy.     The   light  which  they  give 
must  proceed  from  themselves,  for  the  feeble  reflec- 
tion of  light  from  some  other  quarter,  would  not 
carry  through  such  mighty  tracts  to  the  eye  of  an 
observer.     A  body  may  be  visible  in  two    ways. 
It  may  be  visible  from  its  own  light,  as  the  flame 
of  a  candle,  or  the  brightness  of  a  fire,  or  the  bril- 
liancy of  yonder   glorious  sun,  which  lightens  aU 
below,  and  is  the  lamp  of  the  world.     Or  it  may 
be  visible  from  the  light  v»  hich  faUs  upon  it,  as  the 


SKETCH  OF  MODERN  ASl'RONOMY.  29 

body  which  receives  its  Ught  from  a  taper — or  the 
whole  assemblage  of  objects  on  the   surface    of 
the   earth,  which  appear  only  when  the  hght  of 
day  rests  upon  them— or  the  moon,  which,  in  that 
part  of  it  that  is  towards  the  sun,  gives  out  a  sil- 
very whiteness  to  the  eye  of  the  observer,  while 
the  other  part  forms  a  black  and  invisible  space  in 
the    firmament — or    as    the  planets,   which  shine 
only  because  the  sun  shines  upon  them,  and  which, 
each  of  them,  present  the   appearance  of  a  dark 
spot  on  the  side  that  is  turned  away  from  it.     Now 
apply  this  question  to  the  fixed  stars.     Are  they 
luminous  of  themselves,  or  do  they  derive   their 
light  from  the  sun,  like  the  bodies  of  our  planetary 
system?     Think  of  their  immense  distance,  and 
the  solution  of  this  question  becomes  evident.    The 
sun,  like  any  other  body,  must  dwindle  into  a  less 
apparent  magnitude  as  you  retire  from  it.     At  the 
prodigious  distance  even  of  the  very  nearest  of  the 
fixed  stars,  it  must  have  shrunk  into  a  small  indi- 
visible point.     In   short,  it  must  have  become  a 
star  itself,  and  could  shed  no  more  light  than  a 
single  individual  of  those  glimmering  myriads,  the 
whole  assemblage  of  which  cannot  dissipate  and 
can  scarcely  aUeviate  the  midnight  darkness  of  our 
world.     These  stars  are  visible  to  us,  not  because 
the  sun  shines  upon  them,  but  because  they  shine 
of  themselves,  because  they  are  so  many  luminous 
bodies  scattered  over  the  tracts  of  immensity— in  a 
word,  because  they  are  so  many  suns,  each  throned 
in  the  centre  of  his  own  dominions,  and  pourmg 
a  flood   of  light   over   his  own   portion   of  these 
unlimitable  regions. 


30  SKETCH  OF   MODERN  ASTRONOMY. 

At  such  an  immense  distance  for  observation,  it 
is  not  to  be  supposed,  that  we  can  collect  many 
points  of  resemblance  between  the  fixed  stars,  and 
the  solar  star  which  forms  the  centre  of  our  plane- 
tary system.  There  is  one  point  of  resemblance, 
however,  which  has  not  escaped  the  penetration 
of  our  astronomers.  We  know  that  our  sun  turns 
round  upon  himself,  in  a  regular  period  of  time. 
We  also  knovv  that  there  are  dark  spots  scattered 
over  his  surface,  which,  though  invisible  to  the  naked 
eye,  are  perfectly  noticeable  by  our  instruments. 
If  these  spots  existed  in  greater  quantity  upon  one 
side  than  upon  another,  it  would  have  the  general 
efi*ect  of  making  that  side  darker;  and  the  revolution 
of  the  sun  must,  in  such  a  case,  give  us  a  brighter 
and  a  fainter  side,  by  regular  alternations.  Now, 
there  are  some  of  the  fixed  stars  which  present  this 
appearance.  They  present  us  with  periodical  vari- 
ations of  light.  From  the  splendour  of  a  star  of  the 
first  or  second  magnitude,  they  fade  away  into  some 
of  the  inferior  magnitudes — and  one,  by  becoming 
invisible,  might  give  reason  to  apprehend  that  we 
had  lost  him  altogether — but  we  can  still  recognize 
him  by  the  telescope,  till  at  length  he  reappears 
in  his  own  place,  and,  after  a  regular  lapse  of  so 
many  days  and  hours,  recovers  his  original  bright- 
ness. Now,  the  fair  inference  from  this  is,  that 
the  fixed  stars,  as  they  resemble  our  sun  in  being 
so  many  luminous  masses  of  immense  magnitude, 
they  resemble  him  in  this  also,  that  each  of  them 
turns  round  upon  his  own  axis  ;  so  that  if  any  of 
them  should  have  an  inequality  in  the  brightness 
of  their  sides,  this  revolution  is  rendered  evident, 


SKETCH  or  MODERN  ASTRONOMY. 


31 


by  the   regular  variations   in  the  degree  of  light 
which  it  undergoes. 

Shall  we   say,  then,  of  these  vast  luminaries, 
that  they  were  created  in  vain  ?    Were  they  called 
into  existence  for  no  other  purpose  than  to  throw 
a  tide  of  useless  splendour  over  the  sohtudes  of 
immensity  ?     Our  sun  is   only  one  of  these  lumi- 
naries, and  we  know  that  he  has  worlds  in  his  train. 
Why  should  we  strip  the  rest  of  this  princely  at- 
tendance ?     Why   may  not  each  of  them  be   the 
centre  of  his  own  system,  and  give  light  to  his  own 
worlds?     It  is   true   that  we  see  them  not;  but 
could  the  eye  of  man  take  its  flight  into  those  dis- 
tant regions,  it  would  lose  sight  of  our  httle  world 
before  it  reached  the  outer  limits  of  our  system — 
the  greater  planets  would  disappear  in  their  turn — 
before  it  had   described  a  small  portion  of  that 
abyss  which  separates  us  from  the  fixed  stars,  the 
sun  would  decline  into    a  httle    spot,  and  all  its 
splendid  retinue  of  worlds  be  lost  in  the  obscurity 
of  distance — he  would  at  last  shrink  into  a  small 
indivisible  atom,  and  all  that  could  be  seen  of  this 
magnificent  system,  would  be  reduced  to  the  gUm- 
mering  of  a  little  star.     Why  resist  any  longer  the 
grand  and  interesting  conclusion  ?     Each  of  these 
stars  may  be  the  token  of  a  system  as  vast  and  as 
splendid   as  the    one  which  we  inhabit.      Worlds 
roll   in   these    distant   regions;  and  these  worlds 
must  be  the  mansions  of  life  and  of  intelligence. 
In  yon  gilded  canopy  of  heaven,  we  see  the  broad 
aspect  of  the  universe,  where  each  shining  point 
presents  us  with  a  sun,  and  each  sun  with  a  system 
of  worlds — where   the   Divinity  reigns  in  all  the 


3^  SliETCH   OF  MODERN  ASTRONOM-y. 

grandeur  of  His  attributes — where  He  peoples  im- 
mensity with  His  wonders ;  and  travels  in  the 
greatness  of  His  strength  through  the  dominions 
of  one  vast  and  unlimited  monarchy. 

The  contemplation  has  no  limits.  If  we  ask  the 
number  of  suns  and  of  systems,  the  unassisted  eye 
of  man  can  take  in  a  thousand,  and  the  best  tele- 
scope which  the  genius  of  man  has  constructed 
can  take  in  eighty  millions.  But  why  subject  the 
dominions  of  the  universe  to  the  eye  of  man,  or  to 
the  powers  of  his  genius  ?  Fancy  may  take  its 
flight  far  beyond  the  ken  of  eye  or  of  telescope. 
It  may  expatiate  in  tlie  outer  regions  of  all  that  is 
\isible — and  shall  we  have  the  boldness  to  say, 
that  there  is  nothing  there  ?  that  the  wonders  of 
the  Almighty  are  at  an  end,  because  we  can  no 
longer  trace  His  footsteps  ?  that  his  omnipotence 
is  exhausted,  because  human  art  can  no  longer 
follow  Him  ?  that  the  creative  energy  of  God  has 
sunk  into  repose,  because  the  imagination  is  en- 
feebled by  the  magnitude  of  its  efforts,  and  can 
keep  no  longer  on  the  wing  through  those  mighty 
tracts,  which  shoot  far  beyond  what  eye  hath  seen, 
or  the  heart  of  man  hath  conceived — which  sweep 
endlessly  along,  and  merge  into  an  awful  and  mys- 
terious infinity  ? 

Before  bringing  to  a  close  this  rapid  and  im- 
perfect sketch  of  our  modern  astronomy,  it  may  be 
right  to  advert  to  two  points  of  interesting  specu- 
lation, both  of  which  serve  to  magnify  our  concep- 
tions of  the  universe,  and,  of  course,  to  give  us  a 
more  alFecting  sense  of  the  comparative  insignifi- 
cance of  this  our  world.      The  first  is  suggested 


SKETCH  OF  MODERN"  ASTRONOMY.  33 

by  the  consideration,  that  if  a  body  be  struck  in 
the  direction  of  its  centre,  it  obtains,  from  this  im- 
pulse, a  progressive  motion,  but  without  any  move- 
ment of  revolution  being  at  the  same  time  impress- 
ed upon  it.  It  simply  goes  forward,  but  does 
not  turn  round  upon  itself.  But,  again,  should 
the  stroke  not  be  in  the  direction  of  the  centre — 
should  the  line  which  joins  the  point  of  percussion 
to  the  centre,  make  an  angle  v>ith  that  line  in 
which  the  impulse  was  communicated,  then  the 
body  is  both  made  to  go  forward  in  space,  and  also 
to  wheel  upon  its  axis.  In  this  way,  each  of  our 
planets  may  have  had  its  compound  motion  com- 
municated to  it  by  one  single  impulse  ;  and,  on 
the  other  hand,  if  ever  the  rotatory  motion  be  com- 
municated by  one  blow,  then  the  progressive  mo- 
tion must  go  along  with  it.  In  order  to  have  the 
first  motion  without  the  second,  there  must  be  a 
two-fold  force  applied  to  the  body  in  opposite  di- 
rections. It  must  be  set  a-going  in  the  same  way 
as  a  spinning-top,  so  as  to  revolve  about  an  axis, 
and  to  keep  unchanged  its  situation  in  space.  The 
planets  have  both  motions;  and,  therefore,  may 
have  received  them  by  one  and  the  same  impulse. 
The  sun,  we  are  certain,  has  one  of  these  motions. 
He  has  a  movement  of  revolution.  If  spun  round 
his  axis  by  two  opposite  forces,  one  on  each  side 
of  him,  he  may  have  this  movement,  and  retain  an 
inflexible  position  in  space.  But  if  this  movement 
was  given  him  by  one  stroke,  he  must  have  a  pro- 
gressive motion  along  with  a  whirling  motion ;  or, 
in  other  words,  he  is  moving  forward ;  he  is  de- 
scribing a  tract  in  space ;  and,  in  so  doing,  he  car- 
B  2 


34  SKETCH   OF  MODERN   ASTRONOMY. 

ries  all  his  planets  and  all  their  secondaries  along 
with  him. 

But,  at  this  stage  of  the  argument,  the  matter 
only  remains  a  conjectural  point  of  speculation. 
The  sun  may  have  had  his  rotation  impressed  upon 
him  by  a  spinning  impulse ;  or,  without  recurring 
to  secondary  causes  at  all,  this  movement  may  be 
coeval  with  his  being,  and  he  may  have  derived 
both  the  one  and  the  other  from  an  immediate  fiat 
of  the  Creator.  But  there  is  an  actually  observed 
phenomenon  of  the  heavens,  which  advances  the 
conjecture  into  a  probability.  In  the  course 
of  ages,  the  stars  in  one  quarter  of  the  celestial 
sphere  are  apparently  receding  from  each  other ; 
and,  in  the  opposite  quarter,  they  are  apparently 
drawing  nearer  to  each  other.  If  the  sun  be  ap- 
proaching the  former  quarter,  and  receding  from 
the  latter,  this  phenomenon  admits  of  an  easy  ex- 
planation; and  we  are  furnished  with  a  magnifi- 
cent step  in  the  scale  of  the  Creator's  workman- 
ship. In  the  same  manner  as  the  planets,  with 
their  satellites,  revolve  round  the  sun,  may  the  sun, 
wdth  all  his  tributaries,  be  moving,  m  common  with 
other  stars,  around  some  distant  centre,  from 
which  there  emanates  an  influence  to  bind  and  to 
subordinate  them  all.  They  may  be  kept  from 
approaching  each  other,  by  a  centrifugal  force ; 
without  which,  the  laws  of  attraction  might  conso- 
lidate, into  one  stupendous  mass,  all  the  distinct 
globes  of  which  the  universe  is  composed.  Our 
sun  may,  therefore,  be  only  one  member  of  a  higher 
family — taking  his  part,  along  with  millions  of 
others,   in  some  loftier  system  of  mechanism,  by 


SKETCH  OF  MODERN  ASTRONOMY.  35 

which  they  are  all  subjected  to  one  law,  and  to 
one  arrangement — describing  the  sweep  of  such 
an  orbit  in  space,  and  completing  the  mighty  revo- 
lution in  such  a  period  of  time,  as  to  reduce  our 
planetary  seasons,  and  our  planetary  movements, 
to  a  very  humble  and  fractionary  rank  in  the  scale 
of  a  higher  astronomy.  There  is  room  for  all  this 
in  immensity ;  and  there  is  even  argument  for  all 
this,  in  the  records  of  actual  observation;  and, 
from  the  whole  of  this  speculation,  do  we  gather  a 
new  emphasis  to  the  lesson,  how  minute  is  the 
place,  and  how  secondary  is  the  importance  of  our 
world,  amid  the  glories  of  such  a  surrounding  mag- 
nificence. 

But  there  is  still  another  very  interesting  tract 
of  speculation,  which  has  been  opened  up  to  us  by 
the  more  recent  observations  of  astronomy.  What 
we  allude  to,  is  the  discovery  of  the  nebulas.  We 
allow  that  it  is  but  a  dim  and  indistinct  light  which 
this  discovery  has  thrown  upon  the  structure  of 
the  universe  ;  but  still  it  has  spread  before  the  eye 
of  the  mind  a  field  of  very  wide  and  lofty  contem- 
plation. Anterior  to  this  discovery,  the  universe 
might  appear  to  have  been  composed  of  an  indefi- 
nite number  of  suns,  about  equi-distant  from  each 
other,  uniformly  scattered  over  space,  and  each 
encompassed  by  such  a  planetary  attendance  as 
takes  place  in  our  own  system.  But,  we  have 
now  reason  to  think,  that  instead  of  lying  uniform- 
ly, and  in  a  state  of  equi-distance  from  each  other, 
they  are  arranged  into  distinct  clusters — that,  in 
the  same  manner  as  the  distance  of  the  nearest 
fixed  stars  so  inconceivably  superior  to  that  of  our 


36  SKETCH  OF  MODERN  ASTRONOMY. 

planets  from  each  other,  marks  the  separation  of 
the  solar  systems,  so  the  distance  of  two  contigu 
ous  chisters  may  be  so  inconceivably  superior  to 
the  reciprocal  distance  of  those  fixed  stars  which 
belong  to  the  same  cluster,  as  to  mark  an  equally 
distinct  separation  of  the  clusters,  and  to  constitute 
each  of  them  an  individual  member  of  some  higher 
and  more  extended  arrangement.  This  carries  us 
upwards  through  another  ascending  step  in  the 
scale  of  magnificence,  and  there  leaves  us  in  the  un- 
certainty, whether  even  here  the  wonderful  pro- 
gression is  ended ;  and,  at  all  events,  fixes  the 
assured  conclusion  in  our  minds,  that,  to  an  eye 
which  could  spread  itself  over  the  w^hole,  the  man- 
sion which  accommodates  our  species  might  be  so 
very  small  as  to  lie  wrapped  in  microscopical  con- 
cealment ;  and,  in  reference  to  the  only  Being 
who  possesses  this  universal  eye,  well  might  we 
say,  "  What  is  man,  that  thou  art  mindful  of  him; 
or  the  son  of  man,  that  thou  shouldest  deign  to 
visit  him  ?" 

And,  after  all,  though  it  be  a  mighty  and  diffi- 
cult conception,  yet  who  can  question  it  ?  What 
is  seen  may  be  nothing  to  what  is  unseen  ;  for  what 
is  seen  is  limited  by  the  range  of  our  instruments. 
What  is  unseen  has  no  limit;  and,  though  all 
w^iich  the  eye  of  man  can  take  in,  or  his  fancy  can 
grasp,  were  swept  away,  there  might  still  remain 
as  ample  a  field,  over  which  the  Divinity  may  ex- 
patiate, and  which  He  may  have  peopled  with 
innumerable  worlds.  If  the  whole  visible  creation 
were  to  disappear,  it  w^ould  leave  a  solitude  behind 
it — but  to  the  Infinite  Mind,  that  can  take  in  the 


SKETCH  OF  MODERN  ASTRONOMY.  37 

whole  system  of  nature,  this  solitude  might  be  no- 
thing ;  a  small  unoccapied  point  in  that  immensity 
which  surrounds  it,  and  which  he  may  have  filled 
with  the  wonders  of  his  omnipotence.  Though 
this  earth  were  to  be  burned  up,  though  the  trumpet 
of  its  dissolution  were  sounded,  though  yon  sky 
were  to  pass  away  as  a  scroll,  and  every  visible 
glory ,.which  the  finger  of  the  Divinity  has  inscribed 
on  it,  were  to  be  put  out  for  ever — an  event,  so 
awful  to  us,  and  to  every  world  in  our  vicinity,  by 
which  so  many  suns  would  be  extinguished,  and  so 
many  varied  scenes  of  life  and  of  population  would 
rush  into  forgetfulness — what  is  it  in  the  high  scale  of 
the  Almighty's  workmanship?  a  mere  shred,  which, 
though  scattered  into  nothing,  would  leave  the 
universe  of  God  one  entire  scene  of  greatness  and 
of  majesty.  Though  this  earth,  and  these  heavens, 
were  to  disappear,  there  are  other  worlds  which 
roll  afar ;  the  light  of  other  suns  shines  upon  them; 
and  the  sky  which  mantles  them,  is  garnished  with 
other  stars.  Is  it  presumption  to  say,  that  the 
moral  world  extends  to  these  distant  and  unknown 
regions  ?  that  they  are  occupied  with  people  ?  that 
the  charities  of  home  and  of  neighbourhood  flourish 
there  ?  that  the  praises  of  God  are  there  lifted  up, 
and  his  goodness  rejoiced  in  ?  that  piety  has  there 
its  temples  and  its  offerings  ?  and  the  richness  of 
the  divine  attributes  is  there  felt  and  admired  by 
inteUigent  worshippers  ? 

And  what  is  this  world  in  the  immensity  which 
teems  with  them — and  what  are  they  who  occupy 
it  ?  The  universe  at  large  would  suffer  as  little, 
in  its  splendour  and  variety,  by  the  destruction  of 


38  SKETCH  OF  MODERN  ASTRONOMY. 

our  planet,  as  the  verdure  and  sublime  magnitude 
of  a  forest  would  suffer  by  the  fall  of  a  single  leaf. 
The  leaf  quivers  on  the  branch  which  supports  it. 
It  lies  at  the  mercy  of  the  slightest  accident.  A 
breath  of  wind  tears  it  from  its  stem,  and  it  lights 
on  the  stream  of  water  which  passes  underneath. 
In  a  moment  of  time,  the  life  which  we  know,  by 
the  microscope,  it  teems  with,  is  extinguished ;  and 
an  occurrence  so  insignificant  in  the  eye  of  man, 
and  on  the  scale  of  his  observation,  carries  in  it, 
to  the  myriads  which  people  this  httle  leaf,  an  event 
as  terrible  and  as  decisive  as  the  destruction  of  a 
world.  Now,  on  the  grand  scale  of  the  universe, 
we,  the  occupiers  of  this  ball,  which  performs  its 
little  round  among  the  suns  and  the  systems  that 
astronomy  has  unfolded — we  may  feel  the  same 
littleness,  and  the  same  insecurity.  We  differ 
from  the  leaf  only  in  this  circumstance,  that  it 
would  require  the  operation  of  greater  elements  to 
destroy  us.  But  these  elements  exist.  The  fire 
which  rages  within,  may  lift  its  devouring  energy 
to  the  surface  of  our  planet,  and  transform  it  into 
one  wide  and  wasting  volcano.  The  sudden  for- 
mation of  elastic  matter  in  the  bowels  of  the  earth 
— and  it  lies  within  the  agency  of  known  substances 
to  accomplish  this — may  explode  it  into  fragments. 
The  exhalation  of  noxious  air  from  below,  may 
impart  a  virulence  to  the  air  that  is  around  us; 
it  may  affect  the  delicate  proportion  of  its  ingre- 
dients; and  the  whole  of  animated  nature  may 
wither  and  die  under  the  malignity  of  a  tainted 
atmosphere.  A  blazing  comet  may  cross  this 
fated  planet  in  its  orbit,  and  realize  all  the  terrors 


SKETCH  OF  MODERN  ASTRONOMY.  39 

which  superstition  has  conceived  of  it.  We  cannot 
anticipate  with  precision  the  consequences  of  an 
event  which  every  astronomer  must  know  to  he 
within  the  limits  of  chance  and  probabihty.  It 
may  liurry  our  globe  towards  the  sun — or  drag  it 
to  the  outer  regions  of  the  planetary  system — or 
give  it  a  new  axis  of  revolution :  and  the  effect, 
which  I  shall  simply  announce,  without  explaining 
it,  would  be  to  change  the  place  of  the  ocean,  and 
bring  another  mighty  flood  upon  our  islands  and 
continents.  These  are  changes  which  may  happen 
in  a  single  instant  of  time,  and  against  which  no- 
thing known  in  the  present  system  of  things  pro- 
vides us  with  any  security.  They  might  not  an- 
nihilate the  earth,  but  they  would  unpeople  it ; 
and  we  who  tread  its  surface  with  such  firm  and 
assured  footsteps,  are  at  the  mercy  of  devouring 
elements,  which,  if  let  loose  upon  us  by  the  hand 
of  the  Almighty,  would  spread  solitude,  and  silence, 
and  death,  over  the  dominions  of  the  world. 

Now,  it  is  this  httleness,  and  this  insecurity, 
which  make  the  protection  of  the  Almighty  so 
dear  to  us,  and  bring,  with  such  emphasis,  to  every 
pious  bosom,  the  holy  lessons  of  humility  and  gra- 
titude. The  God  who  sitteth  above,  and  presides  in 
high  authority  over  all  worlds,  is  mindful  of  man  ; 
and  though  at  this  moment  His  energy  is  felt  in 
the  remotest  provinces  of  creation,  we  may  feel 
the  same  security  in  His  providence,  as  if  we  were 
the  objects  of  His  undivided  care.  It  is  not  for  us 
to  bring  our  minds  up  to  this  mysterious  agency. 
But  such  is  the  incomprehensible  fact,  that  the 
same  Being,  whose  eye  is  abroad  over  the  whole 


40  SKETCH  OF  MODERN  ASTRONOMY. 

universe,  gives  vegetation  to  every  blade  of  grass, 
and  motion  to  every  particle  of  blood  which  cir- 
culates through  the  veins  of  the  minutest  animal ; 
that,  though  His  mind  takes  into  its  comprehen- 
sive grasp,  immensity  and  all  its  wonders,  I  am  as 
much  known  to  Him  as  if  I  were  the  single  object 
of  His  attention  ;  that  He  marks  all  my  thoughts ; 
that  He  gives  birth  to  every  feeling  and  every 
movement  within  me ;  and  that,  with  an  exercise 
of  power  which  I  can  neither  describe  nor  compre- 
hend, the  same  God  who  sits  in  the  highest  hea- 
ven, and  reigns  over  the  glories  of  the  firmament, 
is  at  my  right  hand,  to  give  me  every  breath  which 
I  draw,  and  every  comfort  which  I  enjoy. 

But  this  very  reflection  has  been  appropriated 
to  the  use  of  Infidelity,  and  the  very  language  of 
the  text  has  been  made  to  bear  an  application  of 
hostility  to  the  faith.  "  What  is  man,  that  God 
should  be  mindful  of  him  ;  or  the  son  of  man,  that 
he  should  deign  to  visit  him  ?"  Is  it  likely,  says 
the  Infidel,  that  God  would  send  his  eternal  Son, 
to  die  for  the  puny  occupiers  of  so  insignificant  a 
province  in  the  mighty  field  of  his  creation? 
Are  we  the  befitting  objects  of  so  great  and  so 
signal  an  interposition  ?  Does  not  the  largeness 
of  that  field  which  astronomy  lays  open  to  the  view 
of  modern  science,  throw  a  suspicion  over  the  truth 
of  the  gospel  history  ?  and  how  shall  we  reconcile 
the  greatness  of  that  wonderful  movement  which 
was  made  in  heaven  for  the  redemption  of  fallen 
man,  with  the  comparative  meanness  and  obscu- 
rity of  our  species  ? 

This  is  a  popular  argument  against  Christianity, 


SKETCH  OF  MODERN  ASTRONOMY.  41 

not  much  dwelt  upon  in  books,  but,  we  believej  a 
good  deal  insinuated  in  conversation,  and  having 
no  small  influence  on  the  amateurs  of  a  superficial 
philosophy.  At  all  events,  it  is  right  that  every 
such  argument  should  be  met,  and  manfully  con- 
fronted ;  nor  do  we  know  a  more  discreditable 
surrender  of  our  religion,  than  to  act  as  if  she  had 
any  thing  to  fear  from  the  ingenuity  of  her  most 
accomplished  adversaries.  The  author  of  the  fol- 
lowing treatise  engages  in  his  present  undertaking, 
under  the  full  impression  that  a  something  may  be 
found  with  which  to  combat  Infidelity  in  all  its 
forms ;  that  the  truth  of  God  and  of  his  message 
admits  of  a  noble  and  decisive  manifestation, 
through  every  mist  which  the  pride,  or  the  preju- 
dice, or  the  sophistry  of  man  may  throw  around 
it ;  and  elevated  as  the  wisdom  of  him  may  be, 
who  has  ascended  the  heights  of  science,  and 
poured  the  light  of  demonstration  over  the  most 
w^ondrous  of  nature's  mysteries,  that  even  out  of 
his  own  principles  it  may  be  proved,  how  much 
more  elevated  is  the  wisdom  of  him  who  sits  with 
the  docility  of  a  little  child  to  his  Bible,  and  casts 
down  to  its  authority  all  his  lofty  imaginations. 


42  THE  MODESTY  OF  TRUE  SCIENCE. 

DISCOURSE  II. 
THE  MODESTY  OF  TRUE  SCIENCE. 


•'  And  if  any  man  think  that  he  knoweth  any  tiling,  he 
knoweth  nothing  yet  as  he  ought  to  know." — 1  Corinthians, 
viii.  2. 

There  is  much  profound  and  important  wisdom  in 
that  proverb  of  Solomon,  where  it  is  said,  that 
*'  the  heart  knoweth  its  own  bitterness."  It  forms 
part  of  a  truth  still  more  comprehensive,  that  every 
man  knoweth  his  own  peculiar  feelings,  and  diffi- 
culties, and  trials,  far  better  than  he  can  get  any 
of  his  neighbours  to  perceive  them.  It  is  natural 
to  us  all,  that  we  should  desire  to  engross,  to  the 
uttermost,  the  sympathy  of  others  with  what  is  most 
painful  to  the  sensibilities  of  our  ov;n  bosom,  and 
with  what  is  most  aggravating  in  the  hardships  of 
our  own  situation.  But,  labour  as  we  may,  we 
cannot,  wdth  every  power  of  expression,  make  an 
adequate  conveyance,  as  it  were,  of  all  our  sensa- 
tions, and  of  all  our  circumstances,  into  another's 
understanding.  There  is  a  something  in  the 
intimacy  of  a  man's  own  experience,  which  he  cannot 
make  to  pass  entire  into  the  heart  and  mind  even  of 
his  most  familiar  companion, — and  thus  it  is,  that 
he  is  so  often  defeated  in  his  attempts  to  obtain  a 
full  and  a  cordial  possession  of  his  sympathy.  He 
is  mortified,  and  he  wonders  at  the  obtuseness  of 
the  people  around  him — and  that  he  cannot  get 


THE  MODESTY  OF  TRUE  SCIENCE.  43 

them  to  enter  into  the  justness  of  his  complainings 
— nor  to  feel  the  point  upon  which  turn  the  truth 
and  the  reason  of  his  remonstrances — nor  to  give 
their  interested  attention  to  the  case  of  his  pe- 
culiarities and  of  his  wrongs — nor  to  kindle,  in 
generous  resentment,  along  with  him,  when  he 
starts  the  topic  of  his  indignation.  He  does  not 
reflect,  all  the  while,  that,  with  every  human  being 
he  addresses,  there  is  an  inner  man,  which  forms  a 
theatre  of  passions,  and  of  interests  as  busy,  as 
crowded,  and  as  fitted  as  his  own  to  engross  the 
anxious  and  the  exercised  feelings  of  a  heart,  which 
can  alone  understand  its  own  bitterness,  and  lay  a 
correct  estimate  on  the  burden  of  its  own  visitations. 
Every  man  we  meet,  carries  about  with  him,  in  the 
unperceived  soHtude  of  his  bosom,  a  little  world  of 
his  own — and  we  are  just  as  blind,  and  as  insensible, 
and  as  dull,  both  of  perception  and  of  sympathy, 
about  his  engrossing  objects,  as  he  is  about  ours ; 
and,  did  we  suffer  this  observation  to  have  all  its 
weight  upon  us,  it  might  serve  to  make  us  more 
candid,  and  more  considerate  of  others.  It  might 
serve  to  abate  the  monopolizing  selfishness  of  our 
nature.  It  might  serve  to  soften  down  all  the 
malignity  which  comes  out  of  those  envious  con- 
templations that  we  are  so  apt  to  cast  on  the  fancied 
ease  and  prosperity  which  are  around  us.  It  might 
serve  to  reconcile  every  man  to  his  own  lot,  and 
dispose  him  to  bear,  with  thankfulness,  his  own 
burden ;  and  if  this  train  of  sentiment  were  prose- 
cuted with  firmness,  and  calmness,  and  impartiality, 
it  would  lead  to  the  conclusion,  that  each  profession 
in  life  has   its   own   peculiar   pains,  and  its   own 


44  THE  MODESTY  OF  TRUE  SCIENCE. 

besetting  inconveniences — that,  from  the  very  bot- 
tom of  society,  up  to  the  golden  pinnacle  which 
blazons  upon  its  summit,  there  is  much  in  the  shape 
of  care  and  of  suffering  to  be  found — that,  through- 
out all  the  conceivable  varieties  of  human  condition, 
there  are  trials,  which  can  neither  be  adequately 
told  on  the  one  side,  nor  fully  understood  on  the 
other — that  the  ways  of  God  to  man  are  as  equal 
in  this,  as  in  every  department  of  his  administration 
— and  that,  go  to  whatever  quarter  of  human  ex- 
perience we  may,  we  shall  find  that  he  has  provided 
enough  to  exercise  the  patience,  and  to  accomplish 
the  purposes  of  a  wise  and  a  salutary  discipline 
upon  all  his  children. 

I  have  brought  forward  this  observation,  that  it 
may  prepare  the  way  for  a  second.  There  are 
perhaps  no  two  sets  of  human  beings,  who  com- 
prehend less  the  movements,  and  enter  less  into  the 
cares  and  concerns,  of  each  other,  than  the  wide 
and  busy  public  on  the  one  hand,  and,  on  the  other, 
those  men  of  close  and  studious  retirement,  whom 
the  world  never  hears  of,  save  when,  from  their 
thoughtful  solitude,  there  issues  forth  some  splendid 
discovery,  to  set  the  world  on  a  gaze  of  aOmiration. 
Then  will  the  brilliancy  of  a  superior  genius  draw 
every  eye  towards  it — and  the  homage  paid  to 
intellectual  superiority,  will  place  its  idol  on  a  loftier 
eminence  than  all  wealth  or  than  all  titles  can  be- 
stow— and  the  name  of  the  successful  philosopher 
will  circulate,  in  his  own  age,  over  the  whole  extent 
of  civilized  society,  and  be  borne  down  to  posterity 
in  the  characters  of  ever-during  remembrance  :  and 
thus  it  is,  that,  when  we  look  back  on  the  days  of 


THE  MODESTY  OF  TRUE  SCIENCE.  45 

Newton,  we  annex  a  kind  of  mysterious  greatness 
to  him,  who,  by  the  pure  force  of  his  understanding, 
rose  to  such  a  gigantic  elevation  above  the  level  of 
ordinary  men — and  the  kings  and  warriors  of  other 
days  sink  into  insignificance  around  him — and  he, 
at  this  moment,  stands  forth  to  the  public  eye,  in  a 
prouder  array  of  glory  than  circles  the  memory  of 
all  the  men  of  former  generations — and,  while  all 
the  vulgar  grandeur  of  other  days  is  now  mouldering 
in  forgetfulness,  the  achievements  of  our  great 
astronomer  are  still  fresh  in  the  veneration  of  his 
countrymen,  and  they  carry  him  forward  on  the 
stream  of  time,  with  a  reputation  ever  gathering, 
and  the  triumphs  of  a  distinction  that  will  never  die. 
Now,  the  point  that  I  want  to  impress  upon  you 
is,  that  the  same  public,  who  are  so  dazzled  and 
overborne  by  the  lustre  of  all  this  superiority,  are 
utterly  in  the  dark  as  to  what  that  is  which  confers 
its  chief  merit  on  the  philosophy  of  Newton.  They 
see  the  result  of  his  labours,  but  they  know  not 
how  to  appreciate  the  difficulty  or  the  extent  of 
them.  They  look  on  the  stately  edifice  he  has 
reared,  but  they  know  not  what  he  had  to  do'  in 
settling  the  foundation  which  gives  to  it  all  its  sta- 
bility ;  nor  are  they  aware  what  painful  encounters 
he  had  to  make,  both  with  the  natural  predilections 
of  his  own  heart,  and  with  the  prejudices  of  others, 
when  employed  on  the  work  of  laying  together  its 
unperishing  materials.  They  have  never  heard  of 
the  controversies  which  this  man,  of  peaceful  un- 
ambitious modesty,  had  to  sustain  with  all  that  was 
proud,  and  all  that  was  intolerant  in  the  philosophy 
of  the  age.     They  have  never,  in  thought,  entered 


46  THE  MODESTY  OF  TRUE  SCIENCE. 

that  closet  which  was  the  scene  of  his  patient  and 
profound  exercises — nor  have  they  gone  along  with 
him,  as  he  gave  his  silent  hours  to  the  labours  of 
the  midnight  oil,  and  plied  that  unwearied  task,  to 
which  the  charm  of  lofty  contemplation  had  allured 
him — nor  have  they  accompanied  him  through  all 
the  workings  of  that  wonderful  mind,  from  which,  as 
from  the  recesses  of  a  laboratory,  there  came  forth 
such  gleams  and  processes  of  thought  as  shed  an 
effulgency  over  the  whole  amplitude  of  nature.  All 
this,  the  public  have  not  done;  for  of  this  the  great 
majority,  even  of  the  reading  and  cultivated  public, 
are  utterly  incapable  ;  and  therefore  is  it,  that  they 
need  to  be  told  what  that  is,  in  which  the  main 
distinction  of  his  philosophy  lies ;  that,  when  la- 
bouring in  other  fields  of  investigation,  they  may 
know  how  to  borrow  from  his  safe  example,  and 
how  to  profit  by  that  superior  wisdom  which  marked 
the  whole  conduct  of  his  understanding. 

Let  it  be  understood,  then,  that  they  are  the 
positive  discoveries  of  Newton,  which,  in  the  eye 
of  a  superficial  public,  confer  upon  him  all  his 
reputation.  He  discovered  the  mechanism  of  the 
planetary  system.  He  discovered  the  composition 
of  light.  He  discovered  the  cause  of  those  al- 
ternate movements  which  take  place  on  the  waters 
of  the  ocean.  These  form  his  actual  and  his 
visible  achievements.  These  are  what  the  world 
look  to  as  the  monuments  of  his  greatness.  These 
are  doctrines  by  which  he  has  enriched  the  field  of 
philosophy ;  and  thus  it  is,  that  the  whole  of  his 
merit  is  supposed  to  lie  in  having  had  the  sagacity 
to  perceive,  and  the  vigour  to  lay  hold  of  the  proofs, 


THE  MODESTY  OF  TRUE  SCIENCE.  47 

which  conferred  upon  these  doctrines  all  the 
establishment  of  a  most  rigid  and  conclusive  de- 
monstration. 

But,  while  he  gets  all  his  credit,  and  all  his  ad- 
miration for  those  articles  of  science  which  he  has 
added  to  the  creed  of  philosophers,  he  deserves  as 
much  credit  and  admiration  for  those  articles  which 
he  kept  out  of  this  creed,  as  for  those  which  he  in- 
troduced into  it.  It  was  the  property  of  his  mind, 
that  it  kept  a  tenacious  hold  of  every  one  position 
which  had  proof  to  substantiate  it :  but  it  forms  a 
property  equally  characteristic,  and  which,  in  fact, 
gives  its  leading  peculiarity  to  the  whole  spirit  and 
style  of  his  investigations,  that  he  put  a  most  deter- 
mined exclusion  on  every  one  position  that  was 
destitute  of  such  proof.  He  would  not  admit  the 
astronomical  theories  of  those  who  went  before  him, 
because  they  had  no  proof.  He  would  not  give  in 
to  their  notions  about  the  -planets  wheeling  their 
rounds  in  whirlpools  of  ether — for  he  did  not  see 
this  ether — he  had  no  proof  of  its  existence  :  and, 
besides,  even  supposing  it  to  exist,  it  would  not 
have  impressed,  on  the  heavenly  bodies,  such  move- 
ments as  met  his  observation.  He  would  not 
submit  his  judgment  to  the  reigning  systems  of  the 
day — for,  though  they  had  authority  to  recommend 
them,  they  had  no  proof ;  and  thus  it  is,  that  he 
evinced  the  strength  and  the  soundness  of  his  philo- 
sophy, as  much  by  his  decisions  upon  those  doctrines 
of  science  which  he  rejected,  as  by  his  demonstra- 
tion of  those  doctrines  of  science  which  he  was  the 
first  to  propose,  and  which  now  stand  out  to  the 


48  THE  MODESTY  OF  TRUE  SCIENCE. 

eye   of  posterity  as  the  only  monuments  to   the 
force  and  superiority  of  his  understanding. 

He  wanted  no  other  recommendation  for  any 
one  article  of  science,  than  the  recommendation  of 
evidence — and,  with  this  recommendation,  he  opened 
to  it  the  chamber  of  his  mind,  though  authority 
scowled  upon  it,  and  taste  was  disgusted  by  it,  and 
fashion  was  ashamed  of  it,  and  all  the  beauteous 
speculation  of  former  days  was  cruelly  broken  up 
by  this  new  announcement  of  the  better  philosophy, 
and  scattered  hke  the  fragments  of  an  aerial  vision, 
over  which  the  past  generations  of  the  world  had 
been  slumbering  their  profound  and  their  pleasing 
reverie.  But,  on  the  other  hand,  should  the  article 
of  science  want  the  recommendation  of  evidence, 
he  shut  against  it  all  the  avenues  of  his  under- 
standing— and  though  all  antiquity  lent  their  suffrages 
to  it,  and  all  eloquence  had  thrown  around  it  the 
most  attractive  brilliancy,  and  all  habit  had  incor- 
porated it  with  every  system  of  every  seminary  in 
Europe,  and  all  fancy  had  arrayed  it  in  graces  of 
the  most  tempting  solicitation  ;  yet  was  the  steady 
and  inflexible  mind  of  Newton  proof  against  this 
whole  weight  of  authority  and  allurement,  and, 
casting  his  cold  and  unwelcome  look  at  the  specious 
plausibility,  he  rebuked  it  from  his  presence.  The 
strength  of  his  philosophy  lay  as  much  in  refusing 
admittance  to  that  which  wanted  evidence,  as  in 
giving  a  place  and  an  occupancy  to  that  which 
possessed  it.  In  that  march  of  intellect,  which  led 
him  onwards  through  the  rich  and  magnificent  field 
of  his  discoveries,  he  pondered  every  step;  and. 


THE  MODESTY  OF  TRUE  SCIENCE,  49 

while  he  advanced  with  a  firm  and  assured  move- 
ment, wherever  the  light  of  evidence  carried  him, 
he  never  suffered  any  glare  of  imagination  or  of 
prejudice  to  seduce  him  from  his  path. 

Certain  it  is,  that,  in  the  prosecution  of  his  won- 
derful career,  he  found  himself  on  a  way  beset  with 
temptation  upon  every  side  of  him.  It  was  not 
merely  that  he  had  the  reigning  taste  and  philosophy 
of  the  times  to  contend  with.  But  he  expatiated  on 
a  lofty  region,  where,  in  all  the  giddiness  of  success, 
he  might  have  met  with  much  to  solicit  his  fancy, 
and  tempt  him  to  some  devious  speculation.  Had 
he  been  like  the  majority  of  other  men,  he  would 
have  broken  free  from  the  fetters  of  a  sober  and 
chastised  understanding,  and,  giving  wing  to  his 
imagination,  had  done  what  philosophers  have 
done  after  him — been  carried  away  by  some  meteor 
of  their  own  forming,  or  found  their  amusement  in 
some  of  their  own  intellectual  pictures,  or  palmed 
some  loose  and  confident  plausibilities  of  their  own 
upon  the  world.  But  Newton  stood  true  to  his 
principle,  that  he  would  take  up  with  nothing  which 
wanted  evidence,  and  he  kept  by  his  demonstrations, 
and  his  measurements,  and  his  proofs ;  and,  if  it  be 
true  that  he  who  ruleth  his  own  spirit  is  greater 
than  he  who  taketh  a  city,  there  was  won,  in  the 
solitude  of  his  chamber,  many  a  repeated  victory 
over  himself,  which  should  give  a  brighter  lustre  to 
his  name  than  all  the  conquests  he  has  made  on  the 
field  of  discovery,  or  than  all  the  splendour  of  his 
positive  achievements. 

I  trust  you  understand,  that,  though  it  be  one  of 
the  maxims  of  the  true  philosophy,  never  to  shrink 
VOL.  vn.  C 


50  THE  MODESTY  or  TRUE  SCIEXC12. 

from  a  doctrine  ^vhich  has  evidence  on  its  side,  it  is 
another  maxim,  equally  essential   to  it,  never  to 
harbour  any  doctrine  when  this  evidence  is  wanting. 
Take  these  two  maxims  along  with  you,  and  you 
will  be  at  no  loss  to  explain  the  peculiarity,  which, 
more  than  any  other,  goes  both  to  characterize  and 
to  ennoble  the  philosophy  of  Newton.      What  I  al- 
lude to  is,  the  precious  combination  of  its  strength 
and  of  its  modesty.     On  the  one  hand,  what  greater 
evidence  of   strength  than  the  fulfilment  of  that 
mighty  enterprise,  by  which  the  heavens  have  been 
made  its  own,  and  the  mechanism  of  unnumbered 
worlds  has  been  brought  within  the  grasp  of  the 
human  understanding  ?      Xow,  it  was  by  walking 
in  the  hght  of  sound  and  competent  evidence,  that 
all  this  was  accomplished.      It  was  by  the  patient, 
the   strenuous,  the  unfaltering  apphcation  of  the 
legitimate  instruments  of  discovery.      It  was  by 
touching  that  which  was  tangible,  and  looking  to 
that  which  was  visible,  and  computing  that  which 
was  measurable,  and,  in  one  word,  by  making  a 
right  and  a  reasonable  use  of  all  that  proof  which 
the  field  of  nature  around  us  has  brought  within  the 
limit  of  sensible  observation.      This  is  the  arena  on 
which  the  modern  philosophy  has  won  all  her  vic- 
tories, and  fulfilled  all  her  wondrous  achievements, 
and  reared  all  her  proud  and  enduring  monuments, 
and  gathered  all  her  magnificent  trophies,  to  that 
power  of  intellect  with  which  the  hand  of  a  bounte- 
ous heaven  has  so  richly  gifted  the  constitution  of 
our  species. 

But,  on  the  other  hand,  go  beyond  the  limits  of 
censible  observation,  and,  from  that  moment,  the 


THE  MODESTY  OF  TRUE  SCIENCE.  51 

genuine  disciples  of  this  enlightened  school  cast  all 
their  confidence  and  all  their  intrepidity  away  fi'om 
them.  Keep  them  on  the  firm  ground  of  experi- 
ment, and  none  more  bold  and  more  decisive  in  their 
announcements  of  all  that  they  have  evidence  for— 
but,  off  this  ground,  none  more  humble,  or  more  cau- 
tious of  any  thing  like  positive  announcements,  than 
they.  They  choose  neither  to  know,  nor  to  believe,  nor 
to  assert,  where  evidence  is  wanting,  and  they  will 
sit,  with  all  the  patience  of  a  scholar  to  his  task,  till  they 
have  found  it.  They  are  utter  strangers  to  that 
haughty  confidence  with  which  some  philosophers 
of  the  day  sport  the  plausibilities  of  unauthorized 
speculation,  and  by  which,  unmindful  of  the  limit 
that  separates  the  region  of  sense  from  the  region 
of  conjecture,  they  make  their  blind  and  their  im- 
petuous inroads  into  a  province  which  does  not 
belong  to  them.  There  is  no  one  object  to  which 
the  exercised  mind  of  a  true  Newtonian  disciple 
is  more  familiarized  than  this  limit,  and  it  serves  as 
a  boundary  by  which  he  shapes,  and  bounds,  and 
regulates  all  the  enterprises  of  his  philosophy.  All 
the  space  which  lies  within  this  limit,  he  cultivates 
to  the  uttermost ;  and  it  is  by  such  successive  la- 
bours, that  every  year  which  rolls  over  the  world 
is  witnessing  some  new  contribution  to  experimental 
science,  and  adding  to  the  solidity  and  aggrandize- 
ment of  this  wonderful  fabric.  But,  if  true  to  their 
own  principle,  then,  in  reference  to  the  forbidden 
ground  which  lies  without  this  limit,  those  very  men, 
who,  on  the  field  of  warranted  exertion,  evinced  all  the 
hardihood  and  vigour  of  a  full-grown  understanding, 
show,  on  every  subject  where  tke  light  of  evidence 


52  THE  MODESTY  OF  TRUE  SCIENCE. 

is  withheld  from  them,  all  the  modesty  of  children. 
They  give  us  positive  opinion  only  when  they  have 
indisputable  proof — but,  when  they  have  no  such 
proof,  then  they  have  no  such  opinion.  The  single 
principle  of  their  respect  to  truth,  secures  their 
homage  for  every  one  position  where  the  evidence 
of  truth  is  present,  and,  at  the  same  time,  begets 
an  entire  diffidence  about  every  one  position  from 
which  this  evidence  is  disjoined.  And  thus  we  may 
understand,  how  the  first  man  in  the  accomplish- 
ments of  philosophy,  which  the  world  ever  saw,  sat 
at  the  book  of  nature  in  the  humble  attitude  of  its 
interpreter  and  its  pupil — how  all  the  docility  of 
conscious  ignorance  threw  a  sweet  and  softening 
lustre  around  the  radiance  even  of  his  most  splendid 
discoveries  :  and,  v/hile  the  flippancy  of  a  few  su- 
perficial acquirements  is  enough  to  place  a  philo- 
sopher of  the  day  on  the  pedestal  of  his  fancied 
elevation,  and  to  vest  him  with  an  assumed  lordship 
over  the  whole  domain  of  natural  and  revealed 
knowledge ;  we  cannot  forbear  to  do  honour  to  the 
unpretending  greatness  of  Newton,  than  whom  we 
know  not  if  there  ever  lighted  on  the  face  of  our 
world,  one  in  the  character  of  whose  admirable 
genius  so  much  force  and  so  much  humility  were 
more  attractively  blended. 

I  now  propose  to  carry  you  forward,  by  a  few 
simple  illustrations,  to  the  argument  of  this  day. 
All  the  sublime  truths  of  the  modern  astronomy  lie 
within  the  field  of  actual  observation,  and  have  the 
firm  evidence  to  rest  upon  of  ail  that  information 
which  is  conveyed  to  us  by  the  avenue  of  the  senses. 
Sir  Isaac  Newton  never  went  beyond  this  field, 


THE  MODESTY  01'  TRUE  SCIENCE.  53 

without  a  reverential  impression  upon  his  mind,  of 
the  precariousness  of  the  ground  on  which  he  was 
standing.  On  this  ground  he  never  ventured  a 
positive  affirmation — but,  resigning  the  lofty  tone 
of  demonstration,  and  putting  on  the  modesty  of 
conscious  ignorance,  he  brought  forward  all  he  had 
to  say  in  the  humble  form  of  a  doubt,  or  a  conjecture, 
or  a  question.  But  what  he  had  not  confidence 
to  do,  other  philosophers  have  done  after  him — and 
they  have  winged  their  audacious  way  into  forbid- 
den regions — and  they  have  crossed  that  circle  by 
which  the  field  of  observation  is  enclosed — and  there 
have  they  debated  and  dogmatized  with  all  the  pride 
of  a  most  intolerant  assurance. 

Now,  though  the  case  be  imaginary,  let  us  con- 
ceive, for  the  sake  of  illustration,  that  one  of  these 
philosophers  made  so  extravagant  a  departure  from 
the  sobriety  of  experimental  science,  as  to  pass  on 
from  the  astronomy  of  the  different  planets,  and  to 
attempt  the  natural  history  of  their  animal  and 
vegetable  kingdoms.  He  might  get  hold  of  some 
vague  and  general  analogies,  to  throw  an  air  of 
plausibility  around  his  speculation.  He  might  pass 
from  the  botany  of  the  different  regions  of  the  globe 
that  we  inhabit,  and  make  his  loose  and  confident 
applications  to  each  of  the  other  planets,  according 
to  its  distance  from  the  sun,  and  the  inclination  of 
its  axis  to  the  plane  of  its  annual  revolution ;  and 
out  of  some  such  slender  materials,  he  may  work 
up  an  amusing  philosophical  romance,  full  of  ingen- 
uity, and  having,  withal,  the  colour  of  truth  and  of 
consistency  spread  over  it. 

I  can  conceive  how  a  superficial  public  might  be 


54  THE  MODESTY  OF  TRUE  SCIENCE. 

delighted  by  the  eloquence  of  such  a  composition, 
and  even  be  impressed  by  its  arguments ;  but  were 
I  asked,  which  is  the  man  of  all  the  ages  and 
countries  in  the  world,  who  would  have  the  least 
respect  for  this  treatise  upon  the  plants  which  grow 
on  the  surface  of  Jupiter,  I  should  be  at  no  loss  to 
answer  the  question.  I  should  say,  that  it  would 
be  he  who  had  computed  the  motions  of  Jupiter — 
that  it  would  be  he  who  had  measured  the  bulk  and 
the  density  of  Jupiter — that  it  would  be  he  who  had 
estimated  the  periods  of  Jupiter — that  it  would  be  he 
whose  observant  eye  and  patiently  calculating  mind, 
had  traced  the  satelUtes  of  Jupiter  through  all  the 
rounds  of  their  mazy  circulation,  and  unravelled  the 
intricacy  of  all  their  movements.  He  would  see  at 
once  that  the  subject  lay  at  a  hopeless  distance 
beyond  the  field  of  legitimate  observation.  It  would 
be  quite  enough  for  him,  that  it  was  beyond  the 
range  of  his  telescope.  On  this  ground,  and  on  this 
ground  only,  would  he  reject  it  as  one  of  the  puniest 
imbecilities  of  childhood.  As  to  any  character  of 
truth  or  of  importance,  it  would  have  no  more  effect 
on  such  a  mind  as  that  of  Newton,  than  any  illusion 
of  poetry  ;  and  from  the  eminence  of  his  intellectual 
throne,  would  he  cast  a  penetrating  glance  at  the 
whole  speculation,  and  bid  its  gaudy  insignificance 
away  from  him. 

But  let  us  pass  onward  to  another  case,  which, 
though  as  imaginary  as  the  former,  may  still  serve 
the  purpose  of  illustration. 

This  same  adventurous  philosopher  may  be  con- 
ceived to  shift  his  speculation  from  the  plants  of 
another  world,  to  the  character  of  its  inhabitants. 


THE  MODESTY  OF  TRUE  SCIENCE.  O;) 

He  may  avail  himself  of  some  slender  correspond- 
encies between  the  heat  of  the  sun  and  the  moral 
temperament  of  the  people  it  shines  upon.  He 
may  work  up  a  theory,  which  carries  on  the  front 
of  it  some  of  the  characters  of  plausibility ;  but 
surely  it  does  not  require  the  philosophy  of  Newton 
to  demonstrate  the  folly  of  such  an  enterprise. 
There  is  not  a  man  of  plain  understanding,  who  does 
not  perceive  that  this  ambitious  inquirer  has  got 
without  his  reach — that  he  has  stepped  beyond  the 
field  of  experience,  and  is  now  expatiating  on  the 
field  of  imagination — that  he  has  ventured  on  a  dark 
unknown,  where  the  wisest  of  all  philosophy  is  the 
philosophy  of  silence,  and  a  profession  of  ignorance 
is  the  best  evidence  of  a  solid  understanding — that 
if  he  think  he  knows  any  thing  on  such  a  subject 
as  this,  "  he  knoweth  nothing  yet  as  he  ought  to 
know."  He  knows  not  what  Newton  knew,  and 
what  he  kept  a  steady  eye  upon  throughout  the 
whole  march  of  his  sublime  investigations.  He 
knows  not  the  limit  of  his  own  faculties.  He  has 
overleaped  the  barrier  which  hems  in  all  the  pos- 
sibihties  of  human  attainment.  He  has  wantonly 
flung  himself  off  from  the  safe  and  firm  field  of  ob- 
servation, and  got  on  that  undiscoverable  ground, 
where,  by  every  step  he  takes,  he  widens  his  dis- 
tance from  the  true  philosophy,  and  by  every 
affirmation  he  utters,  he  rebels  against  the  authority 
of  all  its  maxims. 

I  can  conceive  it  to  be  your  feeling,  that  I  have 
hitherto  indulged  in  a  vain  expense  of  argument, 
and  it  is  most  natural  for  you  to  put  the  question, 
'  What  is  the  precise  point  of  convergence  to  which 


56  THE  MODESTY  OF  TRUE  SCIENCE. 

I  am  directing  all  the  light  of  this  abundant  and 
seemingly  superfluous  illustration  ?' 

In  the  astronomical  objection  which  Infidelity 
has  proposed  against  the  truth  of  the  Christian 
revelation,  there  is  first  an  assertion,  and  then  an 
argument.  The  assertion  is,  that  Christianity  is 
set  up  for  the  exclusive  benefit  of  our  minute 
and  solitary  world.  The  argument  is,  that  God 
would  not  lavish  such  a  quantity  of  attention  on  so 
insignificant  a  field.  Even  though  the  assertion 
were  admitted,  I  should  have  a  quarrel  with  the 
argument.  But  the  futility  of  the  objection  is  not 
laid  open  in  all  its  extent,  unless  we  expose  the 
utter  want  of  all  essential  evidence  even  for  the 
truth  of  the  assertion.  How  do  infidels  know  that 
Christianity  is  set  up  for  the  single  benefit  of  this 
earth  and  its  inhabitants  ?  How  are  they  able  to 
tell  us,  that  if  you  go  to  other  planets,  the  person 
and  the  religion  of  Jesus  are  there  unknown  to 
them  ?  We  challenge  them  to  the  proof  of  this 
announcement.  We  see  in  this  objection  the  same 
rash  and  gratuitous  procedure,  which  was  so  ap- 
parent in  the  two  cases  that  we  have  already 
advanced  for  the  purpose  of  illustration.  W" e  see 
in  it  the  same  glaring  transgression  on  the  spirit 
and  the  maxims  of  that  very  philosophy  which  they 
profess  to  idolize.  They  have  made  their  argument 
against  us,  out  of  an  assertion  which  has  positively 
no  ascertained  fact  to  rest  upon — an  assertion  which 
they  have  no  means  whatever  of  verifying — an 
assertion,  the  truth  or  the  falsehood  of  which  can 
only  be  gathered  out  of  some  supernatural  message, 
for  it  hes  completely  beyond  the  range  of  human 


THE  MODESTY  OF  TRUE  SCIENCE.  57 

observation.  It  is  willingly  admitted,  that  by  an 
attempt  at  the  botany  of  other  worlds,  the  true 
method  of  philosophizing  is  trampled  on  ;  for  this 
is  a  subject  that  lies  beyond  the  range  of  actual 
observation,  and  every  performance  upon  it  must  be 
made  up  of  assertions  without  proofs.  It  is  also 
willingly  admitted,  that  an  attempt  at  the  civil  and 
political  history  of  their  people,  would  be  an  equally 
extravagant  departure  from  the  spirit  of  the  true 
philosophy ;  for  this  also  hes  beyond  the  field  of 
actual  observation  ;  and  all  that  could  possibly  be 
mustered  up  on  such  a  subject  as  this,  would  still 
be  assertions  without  proofs.  Now,  the  theology 
of  these  planets  is,  in  every  way,  as  inaccessible  a 
subject  as  their  politics  or  their  natural  history ; 
and  therefore  it  is,  that  the  objection,  grounded  on 
the  confident  assumption  of  those  infidel  astronomers, 
who  assert  Christianity  to  be  the  religion  of  this 
one  world,  or  that  the  religion  of  these  other  worlds 
is  not  our  very  Christianity,  can  have  no  influence 
on  a  mind  that  has  derived  its  habits  of  thinking, 
from  the  pure  and  rigorous  school  of  Newton ;  for 
the  whole  of  this  assertion  is  just  as  glaringly  des- 
titute of  proof,  as  in  the  two  former  instances. 

The  man  who  could  embark  in  an  enterprise  so 
foolish  and  so  fanciful,  as  to  theorize  on  the  details 
of  the  botany  of  another  world,  or  to  theorize  on 
the  natural  and  moral  history  of  its  people,  is  just 
making  as  outrageous  a  departure  from  all  sense, 
and  all  science,  and  all  sobriety,  when  he  presumes 
to  speculate,  or  to  assert  on  the  details  or  the 
methods  of  God's  administration  among  its  rational 
and  accountable  inhabitants.  He  wings  his  fancy 
c2 


58  THE  MODESTY  OF  TRUE  SCIENCE. 

to  as  hazardous  a  region,  and  vainly  strives  a 
penetrating  vision  through  the  mantle  of  as  deep 
an  obscurity.  All  the  elements  of  such  a  specu- 
lation are  hidden  from  him.  For  any  thing  he  can 
tell,  sin  has  found  its  way  into  these  other  worlds. 
For  any  thing  he  can  tell,  their  people  have  banished 
themselves  from  communion  with  God.  For  any 
thing  he  can  tell,  many  a  visit  has  been  made  to 
each  of  them,  on  the  subject  of  our  common 
Christianity,  by  commissioned  messengers  from  the 
throne  of  the  Eternal.  For  any  thing  he  can  tell, 
the  redemption  proclaimed  to  us  is  not  one  solitary 
instance,  or  not  the  whole  of  that  redemption  which 
is  by  the  Son  of  God — but  only  our  part  in  a  plan 
of  mercy,  equal  in  magnificence  to  all  that  astron- 
omy has  brought  within  the  range  of  human 
contemplation.  For  any  thing  he  can  tell,  the 
moral  pestilence,  which  walks  abroad  over  the  face 
of  our  world,  may  have  spread  its  desolations  over 
all  the  planets  of  all  the  systems  which  the  telescope 
has  made  known  to  us.  For  any  thing  he  can  tell, 
some  mighty  redemption  has  been  devised  in  heaven, 
to  meet  this  disaster  in  the  whole  extent  and  ma- 
lignity of  its  visitations.  For  any  thing  he  can  tell, 
the  wonder-working  God,  who  has  strewed  the  field 
of  immensity  with  so  many  worlds,  and  spread  the 
shelter  of  His  omnipotence  over  them,  may  have 
sent  a  message  of  love  to  each,  and  re-assured  the 
hearts  of  its  despairing  people  by  some  overpower- 
ing manifestation  of  tenderness.  For  any  thing 
he  can  tell,  angels  from  paradise  may  have  sped  to 
every  planet  their  delegated  way,  and  sung,  from 
each  azure  canopy,  a  joyful  annunciation,  and  said, 


THE  MODESTY  OF  TRUE  SCIENCE.  59 

**  Peace  be  to  this  residence,  and  good-will  to  all 
its  families,  and  i^lory  to  Him  in  the  highest,  who, 
from  the  eminency  of  his  throne,  has  issued  an  act 
of  grace  so  magnificent,  as  to  carry  the  tidings  of 
life  and  of  acceptance  to  the  unnumbered  orbs  of 
a  sinful  creation."  For  any  thing  he  can  tell,  the 
Eternal  Son,  of  whom  it  is  said,  that  by  Him  the 
worlds  were  created,  may  have  had  the  government 
of  many  sinful  worlds  laid  upon  His  shoulders ;  and 
by  the  power  of  His  mysterious  word,  have  awoke 
them  all  from  that  spiritual  death,  to  which  they 
had  sunk  in  lethargy  as  profound  as  the  slumbers 
of  non-existence.  For  any  thing  he  can  tell,  the 
one  Spirit  who  moved  on  the  face  of  the  waters, 
and  whose  presiding  influence  it  was  that  hushed 
the  wild  war  of  nature's  elements,  and  made  a 
beauteous  system  emerge  out  of  its  disjointed 
materials,  may  now  be  working  with  the  fragments 
of  another  chaos ;  and  educing  order,  and  obedience, 
and  harmony,  out  of  the  wrecks  of  a  moral  rebellion, 
which  reaches  through  all  these  spheres,  and 
spreads  disorder  to  the  uttermost  limits  of  our 
astronomy. 

But  here  I  stop — nor  shall  I  attempt  to  grope 
further  my  dark  and  fatiguing  way,  among  such 
subUme  and  mysterious  secrecies.  It  is  not  I  who 
am  offering  to  lift  this  curtain.  It  is  not  I  who 
am  pitching  my  adventurous  flight  to  the  secret 
things  which  belong  to  God,  away  from  the  things 
that  are  revealed,  and  which  belong  to  us,  and  to 
our  children.  It  is  the  champion  of  that  very  Infi- 
delity which  I  am  now  combating.  It  is  he  who 
props  his  unchristian  argument,  by  presumptions 


60  THE  MODESTY  OF  TRUE  SCIENCE. 

fetched  out  of  those  untravelled  obscurities  which 
lie  on  the  other  side  of  a  barrier  that  I  pronounce 
to  be  impassable.  It  is  he  who  trangresses  the 
limits  which  Newton  forbore  to  enter ;  because, 
with  a  justness  which  reigns  throughout  all  his  in- 
quiries, he  saw  the  limit  of  his  own  understanding, 
nor  would  he  venture  himself  beyond  it.  It  is  he 
who  has  borrowed  from  the  philosophy  of  this 
wondrous  man  a  few  dazzling  conceptions,  which 
have  only  served  to  bewilder  him — while,  an  utter 
stranger  to  the  spirit  of  this  philosophy,  he  has 
carried  a  daring  and  an  ignorant  speculation  far 
beyond  the  boundary  of  its  prescribed  and  allowable 
enterprises.  It  is  he  who  has  mustered  against 
the  truths  of  the  Gospel,  resting  as  it  does  on 
evidence  within  the  reach  of  his  faculties,  an 
objection,  for  the  truth  of  which  he  has  no  evidence 
whatever.  It  is  he  who  puts  away  from  him  a 
doctrine,  for  which  he  has  the  substantial  and  the 
familiar  proof  of  human  testimony  ;  and  substitutes 
in  its  place,  a  doctrine,  for  which  he  can  get  no 
other  support  than  from  a  reverie  of  his  own  im- 
agination. It  is  he  who  turns  aside  from  all  that 
safe  and  certain  argument,  that  is  supplied  by  the 
history  of  this  world,  of  which  he  knows  something  ; 
and  who  loses  himself  in  the  work  of  theorizing 
about  other  worlds,  of  the  moral  and  theological 
history  of  which  he  positively  knows  nothing. 
Upon  him,  and  not  upon  us,  lies  the  folly  of 
launching  his  impetuous  way  beyond  the  province 
of  observation — of  letting  his  fancy  afloat  among 
the  unknown  of  distant  and  mysterious  regions — 
and,    by    an   act  cf  daring,   as  impious   as  it  is 


THE  MODESTY  OF  TRUE  SCIENCE.  61 

unphllosophicaL  of  trying  to  unwrap  that  shroud, 
which,  till  drawn  aside  by  the  hand  of  a  messenger 
from  heaven,  will  ever  veil,  from  human  eye,  the 
purposes  of  the  Eternal. 

If  you  have  gone  along  with  us  in  the  preceding 
observations,  you  will  perceive  how  they  are  cal- 
culated to  disarm  of  all  its  point,  and  of  all  its 
energy,  that  flippancy  of  Voltaire ;  when,  in  the 
examples  he  gives  of  the  dotage  of  the  human  un- 
derstanding, he  tells  us  of  Bacon  having  believed 
in  witchcraft,  and  Sir  Isaac  Newton  having  writ- 
ten a  commentary  on  the  Book  of  Revelation. 
The  former  instance  we  shall  not  undertake  to 
vindicate  ;  but,  in  the  latter  instance,  we  perceive 
what  this  brilliant  and  specious,  but  withal  super- 
ficial apostle  of  Infidelity,  either  did  not  see,  or 
refused  to  acknowledge.  We  see  in  this  intellec- 
tual labour  of  our  great  philosopher,  the  working 
of  the  very  same  principles  which  carried  him 
through  the  profoundest  and  the  most  successful 
of  his  investigations  ;  and  how  he  kept  most  sa- 
credly and  most  consistently  by  those  very  maxims, 
the  authority  of  which,  he,  even  in  the  full  vigour 
and  manhood  of  his  faculties,  ever  recognized. 
We  see  in  the  theology  of  Newton,  the  very  spirit 
and  principle  which  gave  all  its  stability,  and  all 
its  sureness,  to  the  philosophy  of  Newton.  We 
see  the  same  tenacious  adherence  to  every  one 
doctrine,  that  had  such  valid  proof  to  uphold  it,  as 
could  be  gathered  from  the  field  of  human  expe- 
rience ;  and  we  see  the  same  firm  resistance  of 
every  one  argument,  that  had  nothing  to  recom- 
mend it,  but  such  plausibilities  as  could  easily  be 


62  THE  MODESTY  OF  TRUE  SCIENCE. 

devised  by  the  genius  of  man,  when  he  expatiated 
abroad  on  those  fields  of  creation  which  the  eye 
never  witnessed,  and  from  which  no  messenger  ever 
came  to  us  with  any  credible  information.  Now, 
it  was  on  the  former  of  these  two  principles  that 
Newton  clung  so  determinedly  to  his  Bible,  as  the 
record  of  an  actual  annunciation  from  God  to  the 
inhabitants  of  this  world.  When  he  turned  his 
attention  to  this  book,  he  came  to  it  with  a  mind 
tutored  to  the  philosophy  of  facts — and  when  he 
looked  at  its  credentials,  he  saw  the  stamp  and  the 
impress  of  this  philosophy  on  every  one  of  them. 
He  saw  the  fact  of  Christ  being  a  messenger  from 
heaven,  in  the  audible  language  by  which  it  was 
conveyed  from  heaven's  canopy  to  human  ears. 
He  s^w  the  fact  of  his  being  an  approved  ambas- 
sador of  God,  in  those  miracles  which  carried  their 
own  resistless  evidence  along  with  them  to  human 
eyes.  He  saw  the  truth  of  this  whole  history 
brought  home  to  his  own  conviction,  by  a  sound 
and  substantial  vehicle  of  human  testimony.  He 
saw  the  reality  of  that  supernatural  light,  which 
inspired  the  prophecies  he  himself  illustrated,  by 
such  an  agreement  with  the  events  of  a  various 
and  distant  futurity  as  could  be  taken  cognizance 
of  by  human  observation.  He  saw  the  wisdom  of 
God  pervading  the  whole  substance  of  the  written 
message,  in  such  manifold  adaptations  to  the  cir- 
cumstances of  man,  and  to  the  whole  secrecy  of 
his  thoughts,  and  his  affections,  and  his  sphitual 
wants,  and  his  moral  sensibilities,  as  even  in  the 
mind  of  an  ordinary  and  unlettered  peasant,  can 
be  attested  by  human  consciousness*     These  forna- 


THE  MODESTY  OF  TRUE  SCIENCE.  63 

ed  the  solid  materials  of  the  basis  on  which  our 
experimental  philosopher  stood;  and  there  was 
nothing  in  the  whole  compass  of  his  own  astronomy, 
to  dazzle  him  away  from  it ;  and  he  was  too  well 
aware  of  the  limit  between  what  he  knew,  and 
what  he  did  not  know,  to  be  seduced  from  the 
ground  he  had  taken,  by  any  of  those  brilliancies, 
which  have  since  led  so  many  of  his  humbler  suc- 
cessors into  the  track  of  Infidelity.  He  had  mea- 
sured the  distances  of  these  planets.  He  had  cal- 
culated their  periods.  He  had  estimated  their 
figures,  and  their  bulk,  and  their  densities,  and  he 
had  subordinated  the  whole  intricacy  of  their  move- 
ments to  the  simple  and  sublime  agency  of  one 
commanding  principle.  But  he  had  too  much  of 
the  ballast  of  a  substantial  understanding  about 
him,  to  be  thrown  afloat  by  all  this  success  among 
the  plausibiHties  of  wanton  and  unauthorized  spe- 
culation. He  knew  the  boundary  which  hemmed 
him.  He  knew  that  he  had  not  thrown  one  par- 
ticle of  light  on  the  moral  or  religious  history  of 
these  planetary  regions.  He  had  not  ascertained 
what  visits  of  communication  they  received  from 
the  God  who  upholds  them.  But  he  knew  that 
the  fact  of  a  real  visit  made  to  this  planet,  had 
such  evidence  to  rest  upon,  that  it  was  not  to  be 
disposted  by  any  aerial  imagination.  And  when 
I  look  at  the  steady  and  unmoved  Christianity  of 
this  wonderful  man ;  so  far  from  seeing  any  symp- 
tom of  dotage  and  imbecihty,  or  any  forgetfulness 
of  those  principles  on  which  the  fabric  of  his  phi- 
losophy is  reared ;  do  I  see,  that  in  sitting  down 
to  the  work  of  a  Bible  commentator,  he  hath  given 


64  THE  MODESTY  OF  TRUE  SCIENCE. 

US   their    most    beautiful   and    most    consistent 
exemplification. 

I  did  not  anticipate  such  a  length  of  time,  and 
of  illustration,  in  this  stage  of  my  argument.      But 
I  will  not  regret  it,  if  I  have  familiarized  the  minds 
of  any  of  my  readers  to  the  reigning  principle  of 
this  Discourse.    We  are  strongly  disposed  to  think, 
that  it  is  a  principle  which  might  be  made  to  apply 
to  every  argument  of  every  unbeliever — and  so  to 
serve  not  merely  as  an  antidote  against  the  Infi- 
delity of  astronomers,  but  to  serve  as  an  antidote 
against  all  Infidelity.      We  are  all  aware  of  the 
diversity  of  complexion  which  Infidehty  puts  on. 
It  looks  one  thing  in  the  man  of  science  and  of 
liberal   accomplishment.      It  looks   another  thing 
in  the  refined  voluptuary.     It  looks  still  another 
thing  in  the  common-place  railer  against  the  arti- 
fices of  priestly  domination.    It  looks  another  thing 
in  the  dark  and  unsettled  spirit  of  him,  whose  every 
reflection  is  tinctured  with  gall,  and  who  casts  his 
envious  and  malignant  scowl  at  all   that  stands 
associated  with  the  established  order  of  society. 
It  looks  another  thing  in  the  prosperous  man  of 
business,  who  has  neither    time  nor  patience  for 
the  details   of  the  Christian   evidence — but  who, 
amid  the  hurry  of  his  other  occupations,  has  gath- 
ered as  many  of  the  lighter  petulancies  of  the  in- 
fidel writers,  and  caught  from  the  perusal  of  them, 
as  contemptuous  a  tone  tov.ards  the  religion  of 
the  New  Testament,  as  to  set  him  at  large  from 
all  the  decencies  of  religious  observation,  and  to 
give  him  the  disdain  of  an  elevated  complacency 
over  all  the  follies  of  what  he  counts  a  vulgar  su- 


THE  MODESTY  OF  TRUE  SCIENCE.  65 

perstition.  And,  lastly,  for  Infidelity  has  now  got 
down  amongst  us  to  the  humblest  walks  of  life ; 
may  it  occasionally  be  seen  louring  on  the  forehead 
of  the  resolute  and  hardy  artificer,  who  can  lift  his 
menacing  voice  against  the  priesthood,  and,  look- 
ing on  the  Bible  as  a  jugglery  of  theirs,  can  bid 
stout  defiance  to  all  its  denunciations.  Now,  under 
all  these  varieties,  we  think  that  there  might  be 
detected  the  one  and  universal  principle  which  we 
have  attempted  to  expose.  The  something,  what- 
ever it  is,  which  has  dispossessed  all  these  people 
of  their  Christianity,  exists  in  their  minds,  in  the 
shape  of  a  position,  which  they  hold  to  be  true, 
but  which,  by  no  legitimate  evidence,  they  have 
ever  realized — and  a  position,  which  lodges  within 
them  as  a  wilful  fancy  or  presumption  of  their  own, 
but  which  could  not  stand  the  touchstone  of  that 
wise  and  solid  principle,  in  virtue  of  which  the  fol- 
lowers of  Newton  give  to  observation  the  prece- 
dence over  theory.  It  is  a  principle  altogether 
worthy  of  being  laboured — as,  if  carried  round  in 
faithful  and  consistent  application  amongst  these 
numerous  varieties,  it  is  able  to  break  up  all  the 
existing  Infidelity  of  the  world. 

But  there  is  one  other  most  important  conclu- 
sion to  which  it  carries  us.  It  carries  us,  with  all 
the  docility  of  children,  to  the  Bible ;  and  puts  us 
down  into  the  attitude  of  an  unreserved  surrender 
of  thought  and  understanding,  to  its  authoritative 
information.  Without  the  testimony  of  an  authen- 
tic messenger  from  Heaven,  I  know  nothing  of 
Heaven's  counsels.  I  never  heard  of  any  moral 
telescope  that  can  bring   to  my  observation   the 


66  THE  MODESTY  OF  TRUE  SCIENCE. 

doings  or  the  deliberations  which  are  taking  place 
in  the  sanctuary  of  the  Eternal.  I  may  put  into 
the  registers  of  my  behef,  all  that  comes  home  to 
me  through  the  senses  of  the  outer  man,  or  by  the 
consciousness  of  the  inner  man.  But  neither  the 
one  nor  the  other  can  tell  me  of  the  purposes  of 
God ;  can  tell  me  of  the  transactions  or  the  designs 
of  His  sublime  monarchy  ;  can  tell  me  of  the  go- 
ings forth  of  Him  who  is  from  everlasting  unto 
everlasting;  can  tell  me  of  the  march  and  the 
movements  of  that  great  administration  which  em- 
braces all  worlds,  and  takes  into  its  wide  and  com- 
prehensive survey  the  mighty  roll  of  innumerable 
ages.  It  is  true  that  my  fancy  may  break  its  im- 
petuous way  into  this  lofty  and  inaccessible  field; 
and,  through  the  devices  of  my  heart,  which  are 
many,  the  visions  of  an  ever-shifting  theology  may 
take  their  alternate  sway  over  me ;  but  the  coun- 
sel of  the  Lord,  it  shall  stand.  And  I  repeat  it, 
that  if  true  to  the  leading  principle  of  that  philo- 
sophy, which  has  poured  such  a  flood  of  light  over 
the  mysteries  of  nature,  w^e  shall  dismiss  every 
self-formed  conception  of  our  own,  and  wait,  in 
all  the  humility  of  conscious  ignorance,  till  the 
Lord  himself  shall  break  His  silence,  and  make 
His  counsel  known,  by  an  act  of  communication. 
And  noM',  that  a  professed  communication  is  be- 
fore me,  and  that  it  has  all  the  solidity  of  the  ex- 
perimental evidence  on  its  side,  and  nothing  but 
the  reveries  of  a  daring  speculation  to  oppose  it, 
what  is  the  consistent,  what  is  the  rational,  what 
is  the  philosophical  use  that  should  be  made  of 
this  document,  but  to  set  me  down  like  a  school- 


THE  MODESTY  OF  TRUE  SCIENCE.  67 

boy,  to  the  work  of  turning  its  pages,  and  conning 
its  lessons,  and  submitting  the  every  exercise  of 
my  judgment  to  its  information  and  its  testimony  ? 
We  know  that  there  is  a  superficial  philosophy, 
which  casts  the  glare  of  a  most  seducing  brilliancy 
around  it ;  and  spurns  the  Bible,  with  all  the  doc- 
trine, and  all  the  piety  of  the  Bible,  away  from  it; 
and  has  infused  the  spirit  of  Antichrist  into  many 
of  the  literary  estabhshments  of  the  age ;  but  it  is 
not  the  solid,  the  profound,  the  cautious  spirit  of 
that  philosophy,  which  has  done  so  much  to  en- 
noble the  modern  period  of  our  world ;  for  the 
more  that  this  spirit  is  cultivated  and  understood, 
the  more  will  it  be  found  in  alliance  with  that 
spirit,  in  virtue  of  which  all  that  exalteth  itself 
against  the  knowledge  of  God  is  humbled,  and  all 
lofty  imaginations  are  cast  down,  and  every  thought 
of  the  heart  is  brought  into  the  captivity  of  the 
obedience  of  Christ. 


68  '  THE  EXTENT  OF  THE 


DISCOURSE  III. 

ON  THE  EXTENT  OF  THE  DIVINE 

CONDESCENSION. 


*  Who  is  like  unto  the  Lord  our  God,  who  dwelleth  on 
high ;  who  humbleth  himself  to  behold  the  things  that 
are  in  heaven,  and  in  the  earth!" — Psalm  cxiii.  5,  6. 

In  our  last  Discourse,  we  attempted  to  expose  the 
total  want  of  evidence  for  the  assertion  of  the  infidel 
astronomer — and  this  reduces  the  whole  of  our 
remaining  controversy  with  him,  to  the  business  of 
arguing  against  a  mere  possibility.  Still,  however, 
the  answer  is  not  so  complete  as  it  might  be,  till 
the  soundness  of  the  argument  be  attended  to,  as 
well  as  the  credibility  of  the  assertion — or,  in  other 
words,  let  us  admit  the  assertion,  and  take  a  view  of 
the  reasoning  which  has  been  constructed  upon  it. 
We  have  already  attempted  to  lay  before  you 
the  wonderful  extent  of  that  space,  teeming  with 
unnumbered  worlds,  which  modern  science  has 
brought  within  the  circle  of  its  discoveries.  We 
even  ventured  to  expatiate  on  those  tracts  of  infinity, 
which  lie  on  the  other  side  of  all  that  eye  or  that 
telescope  hath  made  known  to  us — to  shoot  afar 
into  those  ulterior  regions,  which  are  beyond  the 
limits  of  our  astronomy — to  impress  you  with  the 
rashness  of  the  imagination,  that  the  creative  energy 
of  God  had  sunk  exhausted  by  the  magnitude  of 
its  efibrts,  at  that  very  line,  through  which  the  art 


DIVINE  CONDESCENSION.  69 

of  man,  lavished  as  it  has  been  on  the  work  of 
perfecting  the  instruments  of  vision,  has  not  yet 
been  able  to  penetrate ;  and  upon  all  this  we 
hazarded  the  assertion,  that  though  all  these  visible 
heavens  were  to  rush  into  annihilation,  and  the  besom 
of  the  Almighty's  wrath  were  to  sweep  from  the  face 
of  the  universe,  those  millions,  and  millions  more 
of  suns  and  of  systems,  which  lie  within  the  grasp 
of  our  actual  observation — that  this  event,  which, 
to  our  eye,  would  leave  so  wide  and  so  dismal  a 
solitude  behind  it,  might  be  nothing  in  the  eye  of 
Him  who  could  take  in  the  whole,  but  the  disap- 
pearance of  a  little  speck  from  that  field  of  created 
things,  which  the  hand  of  His  omnipotence  had 
thrown  around  him. 

But  to  press  home  the  sentiment  of  the  text,  it 
is  not  necessary  to  stretch  the  imagination  beyond 
the  limit  of  our  actual  discoveries.  It  is  enough 
to  strike  our  minds  with  the  insignificance  of  this 
world,  and  of  all  who  inhabit  it,  to  bring  it  into 
measurement  with  that  mighty  assemblage  of  worlds 
which  lie  open  to  the  eye  of  man,  aided  as  it  has 
been  by  the  inventions  of  his  genius.  When  we 
told  you  of  the  eighty  millions  of  suns,  each  oc- 
cupying his  own  independent  territory  in  space, 
and  dispensing  his  own  influences  over  a  cluster  of 
tributary  worlds ;  this  world  could  not  fail  to  sink 
into  littleness  in  the  eye  of  him,  who  looked  to  all 
the  magnitude  and  variety  which  are  around  it. 
We  gave  you  but  a  feeble  image  of  our  comparative 
insignificance,  when  we  said,  that  the  glories  of  an 
extended  forest  would  suffer  no  more  from  the  fall 
of  a  single  leaf,  than  the  glories  of  this  extended 


70  THE  EXTENT  OF  THE 

universe  would  suffer,  though  the  globe  we  tread 
upon,  "  and  all  that  it  inherit,  should  dissolve." 
And  when  we  lift  our  conceptions  to  Him  who  has 
peopled  immensity  with  all  these  wonders — Who 
sits  enthroned  on  the  magnificence  of  His  own 
works,  and  by  one  sublime  idea  can  embrace  the 
wliole  extent  of  that  boundless  amplitude,  which 
He  has  filled  with  the  trophies  of  His  divinity  ;  we 
cannot  but  resign  our  whole  heart  to  the  Psalmist's 
exclamation  of  "  What  is  man,  that  thou  art  mindful 
of  him ;  or  the  son  of  man,  that  thou  shouldst  deign 
to  visit  him !" 

Now,  mark  the  use  to  which  all  this  has  been 
turned  by  the  genius  of  InfideUty.  Such  an  humble 
portion  of  the  universe  as  ours,  could  never  have 
been  the  object  of  such  high  and  distinguishing 
attentions  as  Christianity  has  assigned  to  it.  God 
would  not  have  manifested  Himself  in  the  flesh  for 
the  salvation  of  so  paltry  a  world.  The  monarch 
of  a  whole  continent  would  never  move  from  his 
capital;  and  lay  aside  the  splendour  of  royalty; 
and  subject  himself  for  months,  or  for  years,  to 
perils,  and  poverty,  and  persecution ;  and  take  up 
his  abode  in  some  small  islet  of  his  dominions,  which, 
though  swallowed  by  an  earthquake,  could  not  be 
missed  amid  the  glories  of  so  wide  an  empire ;  and 
all  this  to  regain  the  lost  affections  of  a  few  families 
upon  its  surface.  And  neither  would  the  eternal 
Son  of  God — He  who  is  revealed  to  us  as  having 
made  all  worlds,  and  as  holding  an  empire,  amid 
the  splendours  of  which,  the  globe  that  we  inherit 
is  shaded  in  insignificance  ;  neither  would  He  strip 
Himself  of  the  glory  He  had  with  the  Father  before 


DIVINE  CONDESCENSION.  71 

the  world  was,  and  light  on  this  lower  scene  for 
the  purpose  imputed  to  Him  in  the  New  Testament. 
Impossible,  that  the  concerns  of  this  puny  ball, 
which  floats  its  little  round  among  an  infinity  of 
larger  worlds,  should  be  of  such  mighty  account  in 
the  plans  of  the  Eternal,  or  should  have  given  birth 
in  heaven  to  so  wonderful  a  movement,  as  the  Son 
of  God  putting  on  the  form  of  our  degraded  species, 
and  sojourning  amongst  us,  and  sharing  in  all  our 
infirmities,  and  crowning  the  whole  scene  of  hu- 
miliation by  the  disgrace  and  the  agonies  of  a  cruel 
martyrdom. 

This  has  been  started  as  a  difiiculty  in  the  way 
of  the  Christian  Revelation;  and  it  is  the  boast  of 
many  of  our  philosophical  Infidels,  that,  by  the  light 
of  modern  discovery,  the  light  of  the  New  Testa- 
ment is  eclipsed  and  overborne ;  and  the  mischief 
is  not  confined  to  philosophers,  for  the  argument  has 
got  into  other  hands,  and  the  popular  illustrations 
that  are  now  given  to  the  sublimest  truths  of  science, 
have  widely  disseminated  all  the  Deism  that  has 
been  grafted  upon  it ;  and  the  high  tone  of  a  decided 
contempt  for  the  Gospel  is  now  associated  with  the 
flippancy  of  superficial  accquirements ;  and,  while 
the  venerable  Newton,  whose  genius  threw  open 
those  mighty  fields  of  contemplation,  found  a  fit 
exercise  for  his  powers  in  the  interpretation  of  the 
Bible,  there  are  thousands  and  tens  of  thousands, 
who,  though  walking  in  the  light  which  he  holds  out 
to  them,  are  seduced  by  a  complacency  which  he 
never  felt,  and  inflated  by  a  pride  which  never 
entered  into  his  pious  and  philosophical  bosom,  and 


72  THE  EXTENT  OF  THE 

whose  only  notice  of  the  Bible  is  to  depreciate,  and 
to  deride,  and  to  disown  it. 

Before  entering  into  what  we  conceive  to  be  the 
right  answer  to  this  objection,  let  us  previously 
observe,  that  it  goes  to  strip  the  Deity  of  an 
attribute,  which  forms  a  wonderful  addition  to  the 
glories  of  his  incomprehensible  character.  It  is 
indeed  a  mighty  evidence  of  the  strength  of  His 
arm,  that  so  many  millions  of  worlds  are  suspended 
on  it ;  but  it  would  surely  make  the  high  attribute  of 
His  power  more  illustrious,  if,  while  it  expatiated  at 
large  among  the  suns  and  the  systems  of  astronomy, 
it  could,  at  the  very  same  instant,  be  impressing  a 
movement  and  a  direction  on  all  the  minuter  wheels 
of  that  machinery  which  is  working  incessantly 
around  us.  It  forms  a  noble  demonstration  of  His 
wisdom,  that  He  gives  unremitting  operation  to 
those  laws  which  uphold  the  stability  of  this  great 
universe ;  but  it  would  go  to  heighten  that  wisdom 
inconceivably,  if,  while  equal  to  the  magnificent 
task  of  maintaining  the  order  and  harmony  of  the 
spheres,  it  was  lavishing  its  inexhaustible  resources 
on  the  beauties,  and  varieties,  and  arrangements, 
of  every  one  scene,  however  humble,  of  every  one 
field,  however  narrow,  of  the  creation  He  had 
formed.  It  is  a  cheering  evidence  of  the  delight 
He  takes  in  communicating  happiness,  that  the 
whole  of  immensity  should  be  so  strewed  with  the 
habitations  of  life  and  of  intelligence  ;  but  it  would 
surely  bring  home  the  evidence,  with  a  nearer  and 
a  more  affecting  impression,  to  every  bosom,  did 
we  know,  that  at  the  very  time  His  benignant  regard 


DIVINE  CONDESCENSION.  73 

took  in  the  mighty  circle  of  created  beings,  there 
was  not  a  single  family  overlooked  by  Him,  and 
that  every  individual  in  every  corner  of  his  do- 
minions, was  as  effectually  seen  to,  as  if  the  object  of 
an  exclusive  and  undivided  care.  It  is  our  imperfec- 
tion, that  we  cannot  give  our  attention  to  more  than 
one  object,  at  one  and  the  same  instant  of  time;  but 
surely  it  would  elevate  our  every  idea  of  the  per- 
fections of  God,  did  we  know,  that  while  his 
comprehensive  mind  could  grasp  the  whole  amplitude 
of  nature,  to  the  very  outermost  of  its  boundaries, 
He  had  an  attentive  eye  fastened  on  the  very 
humblest  of  its  objects,  and  pondered  every  thought 
of  my  heart,  and  noticed  every  footstep  of  my 
goings,  and  treasured  up  in  His  remembrance  every 
turn  and  every  movement  of  my  history. 

And,  lastly,  to  apply  this  train  of  sentiment  to 
the  matter  before  us;  let  us  suppose  that  one  among 
the  countless  myriads  of  worlds,  should  be  visited 
by  a  moral  pestilence,  which  spread  through  all  its 
people,  and  brought  them  under  the  doom  of  a  law, 
whose  sanctions  were  unrelenting  and  immutable  ; 
it  were  no  disparagement  to  God,  should  He,  by 
an  act  of  righteous  indignation,  sweep  this  offence 
away  from  the  universe  which  it  deformed — nor 
should  we  wonder,  though,  among  the  multitude  of 
other  worlds,  from  which  the  ear  of  the  Almighty 
was  regaled  with  the  songs  of  praise,  and  the  in- 
cense of  a  pure  adoration  ascended  to  His  throne, 
He  should  leave  the  strayed  and  solitary  world  to 
perish  in  the  guilt  of  its  rebellion.  But,  would  it 
not  throw  the  softening  of  a  most  exquisite  tender- 
ness over  the  character  of  God,  should  we  see  Him 
VOL.  vir.  D 


74  THE  EXTENT  OF  THE 

putting  forth  His  every  expedient  to  reclaim  to 
Himself  those  children  who  had  wandered  away 
from  Him — and,  few  as  they  were  when  compared 
with  the  host  of  His  obedient  worshippers,  would 
it  not  just  impart  to  his  attribute  of  compas- 
sion the  infinity  of  the  Godhead,  that,  rather  than 
lose  the  single  world  which  had  turned  to  its  own 
way,  He  should  send  the  messengers  of  peace  to 
woo  and  to  welcome  it  back  again ;  and,  if  justice 
demanded  so  mighty  a  sacrifice,  and  the  law  be- 
hoved to  be  so  magnified  and  made  honourable, 
would  it  not  throw  a  moral  sublime  over  the  good- 
ness of  the  Deity,  should  He  lay  upon  His  own 
Son  the  burden  of  its  atonement,  that  He  might 
again  smile  upon  the  world,  and  hold  out  the 
sceptre  of  invitation  to  all  its  families  ? 

We  avow  it,  therefore,  that  this  infidel  argument 
goes  to  expunge  a  perfection  from  the  character  of 
God.  The  more  we  know  of  the  extent  of  nature, 
should  not  we  have  the  loftier  conception  of  Him 
who  sits  in  high  authority  over  the  concerns  of  so 
wide  a  universe  ?  But  is  it  not  adding  to  the  bright 
catalogue  of  His  other  attributes,  to  say,  that,  while 
magnitude  does  not  overpower  Him,  minuteness 
cannot  escape  Him,  and  variety  cannot  bewilder 
Him ;  and  that,  at  the  very  time  while  the  mind  of 
the  Deity  is  abroad  over  the  whole  vastness  of 
creation,  there  is  not  one  particle  of  matter,  there 
is  not  one  individual  principle  of  rational  or  of  an- 
imal existence,  there  is  not  one  single  world  in  that 
expanse  which  teems  with  them,  that  His  eye  does 
not  discern  as  constantly,  and  His  hand  does  not 
^uide  as  unerringly,  and  His  Spirit  does  not  watch 


DIVINE  CONDESCENSION.  75 

and  care  for  as  vigilantly,  as  if  it  formed  the  one 
and  exclusive  object  of  His  attention  ? 

The  thing  is  inconceivable  to  us,  whose  minds 
are  so  easily  distracted  by  a  number  of  objects,  and 
this  is  the  secret  principle  of  the  whole  Infidelity  I 
am  now  alluding  to.  To  bring  God  to  the  level 
of  our  own  comprehension,  we  would  clothe  him 
in  the  impotency  of  a  man.  We  would  transfer 
to  his  wonderful  mind  all  the  imperfection  of  our 
own  faculties.  When  we  are  taught  by  astronomy, 
that  He  has  millions  of  worlds  to  look  after,  and 
thus  add  in  one  direction  to  the  glories  of  His 
character  ;  we  take  away  from  them  in  another,  by 
saying,  that  each  of  these  worlds  must  be  looked 
after  imperfectly.  The  use  that  we  make  of  a 
discovery,  which  should  heighten  our  every  concep- 
tion of  God,  and  humble  us  into  the  sentiment, 
that  a  Being  of  such  mysterious  elevation  is  to  us 
unfathomable,  is  to  sit  in  judgment  over  Him,  and 
to  pronounce  such  a  judgment  as  degrades 
Him,  and  keeps  Him  down  to  the  standard  of  our 
own  paltry  imagination !  We  are  introduced  by 
modern  science  to  a  multitude  of  other  suns  and  of 
other  systems ;  and  the  perverse  interpretation  we  put 
upon  the  fact,  that  God  can  diifuse  the  benefits  of 
His  power  and  of  His  goodness  over  such  a  variety 
of  worlds,  is,  that  He  cannot^  or  will  not,  bestow  so 
much  goodness  on  one  of  those  worlds,  as  a  professed 
revelation  from  Heaven  has  announced  to  us.  While 
we  enlarge  the  provinces  of  His  empire,  we  tarnish 
all  the  glory  of  this  enlargement,  by  saying,  He  has 
so  much  to  care  for,  that  the  care  of  every  one 
province  must  be  less  complete,  and  less  vigilant, 


7&  THE  EXTENT  OF  THE 

and  less  effectual,  than  it  would  otherwise  have  been. 
By  the  discoveries  of  modern  science,  we  multiply 
the  places  of  the  creation ;  but  along  with  this,  we 
would  impair  the  attribute  of  His  eye  being  in  every 
place  to  behold  the  evil  and  the  good ;  and  thus, 
while  we  magnify  one  of  His  perfections,  we  do  it 
at  the  expense  of  another;  and,  to  bring  Him  within 
the  grasp  of  our  feeble  capacity,  we  would  deface 
one  of  the  glories  of  that  character,  which  it  is  our 
part  to  adore,  as  higher  than  all  thought,  and  as 
greater  than  all  comprehension. 

The  objection  we  are  discussing,  I  shall  state 
again  in  a  single  sentence.  Since  astronomy  has 
unfolded  tons  such  a  number  of  worlds,  it  is  not  likely 
that  God  would  pay  so  much  attention  to  this  one 
world,  and  set  up  such  wonderful  provisions  for  its 
benefit,  as  are  announced  to  us  in  the  Christian 
Revelation.  This  objection  will  have  received  its 
answer,  if  we  can  meet  it  by  the  following  position  : 
— that  God,  in  addition  to  the  bare  faculty  of  dwell- 
ing on  a  multiplicity  of  objects  at  one  and  the  same 
time,  has  this  faculty  in  such  wonderful  perfection, 
that  He  can  attend  as  fully,  and  provide  as  richly, 
and  manifest  all  His  attributes  as  illustriously,  on 
every  one  of  these  objects,  as  if  the  rest  had  no 
existence,  and  no  place  whatever  in  His  government 
or  in  His  thoughts. 

For  the  evidence  of  this  position,  we  appeal,  in 
the  first  place,  to  the  personal  history  of  each  in- 
dividual among  you.  Only  grant  us,  that  God 
never  loses  sight  of  any  one  thing  He  has  created, 
and  that  no  created  thing  can  continue  either  to  be, 
or  to  act  independently  of  Him;  and  then,  even 


DIVINE  CONDESCENSION.  77 

upon  the  face  of  this  world,  humble  as  it  is  on  the 
great  scale  of  astronomy,  how  widely  diversified, 
and  how  multiplied  into  many  thousand  distinct 
exercises,  is  the  attention  of  God !  His  eye  is 
upon  every  hour  of  my  existence.  His  spirit  is 
intimately  present  with  every  thought  of  my  heart. 
His  inspiration  gives  birth  to  every  purpose  within 
me.  His  hand  impresses  a  direction  on  every 
footstep  of  my  goings.  Every  breath  I  inhale,  is 
drawn  by  an  energy  which  God  deals  out  to  me. 
This  body,  which,  upon  the  slightest  derangement, 
would  become  the  prey  of  death,  or  of  woful  suff- 
ering, is  now  at  ease,  because  He  at  this  moment 
is  warding  off  from  me  a  thousand  dangers,  and 
upholding  the  thousand  movements  of  its  complex 
and  delicate  machinery.  His  presiding  influence 
keeps  by  me  through  the  whole  current  of  my  rest- 
less and  everchanging  history.  When  I  walk  by 
the  wayside,  He  is  along  with  me.  When  I  enter 
into  company,  amid  all  my  forgetfulness  of  Him, 
He  never  forgets  me.  In  the  silent  watches  of  the 
night,  when  my  eyelids  have  closed,  and  my  spirit 
has  sunk  into  unconsciousness,  the  observant  eye 
of  Him  who  never  slumbers  is  upon  me.  I  cannot 
fly  from  his  presence.  Go  where  I  will,  He  tends 
me,  and  watches  me,  and  cares  for  me;  and  the 
same  Being  who  is  now  at  work  in  the  remotest  do- 
mains of  Nature  and  of  Providence,  is  also  at  my 
right  hand  to  eke  out  to  me  every  moment  of  my 
being,  and  to  uphold  me  in  the  exercise  of  all  my 
feelings,  and  of  all  my  faculties. 

Now,  what  God  is  doing  with  me.  He  is  doing 
with  every  distinct  individual  of  this  world's  popu- 


78  THE  EXTENT  OF  THE 

lation.  The  intimacy  of  His  presence,  and  atten- 
tion, and  care,  reaches  to  one  and  to  all  of  them. 
With  a  mind  unburdened  by  the  vastness  of  all  its 
other  concerns,  He  can  prosecute,  without  distrac- 
tion, the  government  and  guardianship  of  every 
one  son  and  daughter  of  the  species.  And  is  it 
for  us,  in  the  face  of  all  this  experience,  ungrate- 
fully to  draw  a  Umit  around  the  perfections  of  God 

to  aver,  that  the  multitude  of  other  worlds  has 

withdrawn  any  portion  of  His  benevolence  from 
the  one  we  occupy — or  that  He,  whose  eye  is  upon 
every  separate  family  of  the  earth,  would  not  lavish 
all  the  riches  of  His  unsearchable  attributes  on 
some  high  plan  of  pardon  and  immortality,  in  be- 
half of  its  countless  generations  ? 

But,  secondly,  were  the  mind  of  God  so  fatigued, 
and  so  occupied  with  the  care  of  other  worlds,  as 
the  objection  presumes  Him  to  be,  should  we  not 
see  some  traces  of  neglect,  or  of  carelessness,  in 
His  management  of  ours  ?  Should  we  not  behold, 
in  many  a  field  of  observation,  the  evidence  of  its 
master  being  over-crowded  with  the  variety  of  His 
other  engagements  ?  A  man  oppressed  by  a  mul- 
titude of  business,  would  simplify  and  reduce  the 
work  of  any  new  concern  that  was  devolved  upon 
him.  Now,  point  out  a  single  mark  of  God  being 
thus  oppressed.  Astronomy  has  laid  open  to  us 
so  many  realms  of  creation,  which  were  before  un- 
heard of,  that  the  world  we  inhabit  shrinks  into 
one  remote  and  solitary  province  of  His  wide 
monarchy.  Tell  us  then,  if,  in  any  one  field  of 
this  province  which  man  has  access  to,  you  witness 
a  single  indication  of   God  sparing  Himself— of 


DIVINE  CONDESCENSION.  79 

God  reduced  to  languor  by  the  weight  of  His 
other  employments — of  God  sinking  under  the 
burden  of  that  vast  superintendance  which  lies 
upon  Him — of  God  being  exhausted,  as  one  of  our- 
selves would  be,  by  any  number  of  concerns,  how- 
ever great,  by  any  variety  of  them,  however  man- 
ifold ;  and  do  you  not  perceive,  in  that  mighty 
profusion  of  wisdom  and  of  goodness,  which  is 
scattered  every  where  around  us,  that  the  thoughts 
of  this  unsearchable  Being  are  not  as  our  thoughts, 
nor  his  ways  as  our  ways  ? 

My  time  does  not  suffer  me  to  dwell  on  this 
topic,  because,  before  I  conclude,  I  must  hasten 
to  another  illustration.  But  when  I  look  abroad 
on  the  wondrous  scene  that  is  immediately  before 
me — and  see,  that  in  every  direction  it  is  a  scene 
of  the  most  various  and  unwearied  activity — and 
expatiate  ou  all  the  beauties  of  that  garniture  by 
which  it  is  adorned,  and  on  all  the  prints  of  design 
and  of  benevolence  which  abound  in  it — and  think, 
that  the  same  God  who  holds  the  universe,  with  its 
every  system,  in  the  hollow  of  His  hand,  pencils 
every  flower,  and  gives  nourishment  to  every  blade 
of  grass,  and  actuates  the  movements  of  every  liv- 
ing thing,  and  is  not  disabled,  by  the  weight  of 
His  other  cares,  from  enriching  the  humble  depart- 
ment of  nature  I  occupy,  with  charms  and  accom- 
modations of  the  most  unbounded  variety — then, 
surely,  if  a  message,  bearing  every  mark  of  authen- 
ticity, should  profess  to  come  to  me  from  God, 
and  inform  me  of  his  mighty  doings  for  the  happi- 
ness of  our  species,  it  is  not  for  me,  in  the  face  of 
all  this  evidence,  to  reject  it  as  a  tale  of  imposture, 


80  THE  EXTENT  OF  THE 

because  astronomers  have  told  me  that  He  has  so 
many  other  worlds  and  other  orders  of  beings  to 
attend  to, — and,  when  I  think  that  it  were  a  depo- 
sition of  Him  from  his  supremacy  over  the  crea- 
tures he  has  formed,  should  a  single  sparrow  fall 
to  the  ground  without  His  appointment,  then  let 
science  and  sophistry  try  to  cheat  me  of  my  com- 
fort, as  they  may — I  will  not  let  go  the  anchor  of 
my  confidence  in  God — I  will  not  be  afraid,  for  I 
am  of  more  value  than  many  sparrows. 

But,  thirdly,  it  was  the  telescope,  that,  by  pierc- 
ing the  obscurity  which  lies  between  us  and  distant 
worlds,  put  Infidelity  in  possession  of  the  argument 
against  which  we  are  now  contending.  But,  about 
the  time  of  its  invention,  another  instrument  was 
formed,  which  laid  open  a  scene  no  less  wonderful, 
and  rewarded  the  inquisitive  spirit  of  man  with  a 
discovery,  which  serves  to  neutralize  the  whole  of 
this  argument.  This  was  the  microscope.  The 
one  led  me  to  see  a  system  in  every  star.  The 
other  leads  me  to  see  a  world  in  every  atom.  The 
one  taught  me,  that  this  mighty  globe,  with  the 
whole  burden  of  its  people  and  of  its  countries,  is 
but  a  grain  of  sand  on  the  high  field  of  immensity. 
The  other  teaches  me,  that  every  grain  of  sand 
may  harbour  within  it  the  tribes  and  the  families 
of  a  busy  population.  The  one  told  me  of  the  in- 
significance of  the  world  I  tread  upon.  The  other 
redeems  it  from  all  its  insignificance  ;  for  it  tells  me 
that  in  the  leaves  of  every  forest,  and  in  the  flowers 
of  every  garden,  and  in  the  waters  of  every  rivulet, 
there  are  worlds  teeming  with  life,  and  numberless 
as  are  the  glories  of  the  firmament.      The  one  has 


DIVINE  CONDESCENSION.  81 

suggested  to  me,  that  beyond  and  above  all  that 
is  visible  to  man,  there  may  He  fields  of  creation 
which  sweep  immeasurably  along,  and  carry  the 
impress  of  the  Almighty's  hand  to  the  remotest 
scenes  of  the  universe.  The  other  suggests  to  me, 
that  within  and  beneath  all  that  minuteness  which 
the  aided  eye  of  man  has  been  able  to  explore, 
there  may  lie  a  region  of  invisibles ;  and  that,  could 
we  draw  aside  the  mysterious  curtain  which  shrouds 
it  from  our  senses,  we  might  there  see  a  theatre 
of  as  many  wonders  as  astronomy  has  unfolded,  a 
universe  within  the  compass  of  a  point  so  small, 
as  to  elude  all  the  powers  of  the  microscope,  but 
where  the  wonder-working  God  finds  room  for 
the  exercise  of  all  His  attributes,  where  He  can 
raise  another  mechanism  of  worlds,  and  fill  and 
animate  them  all  with  the  evidences  of  His  glory. 
Now,  mark  how  all  this  may  be  made  to  meet 
the  argument  of  our  infidel  astronomers.  By  the 
telescope,  they  have  discovered  that  no  magnitude, 
however  vast,  is  beyond  the  grasp  of  the  Divinity. 
But  by  the  microscope,  we  have  also  discovered, 
that  no  minuteness,  however  shrunk  from  the  no- 
tice of  the  human  eye,  is  beneath  the  condescen- 
sion of  His  regard.  Every  addition  to  the  powers 
of  the  one  instrument,  extends  the  limit  of  His 
visible  dominions.  But,  by  every  addition  to  the 
powers  of  the  other  instrument,  we  see  each  part 
of  them  more  crowded  than  before,  with  the  won- 
ders of  His  unwearying  hand.  The  one  is  con- 
stantly widening  the  circle  of  His  territory.  The 
other  is  as  constantly  filling  up  its  separate  por- 
tions, with  all  that  is  rich,  and  various,  and  exqui- 
d2 


82  THE  EXTENT  OF  THE 

site.      In  a  word,  by  the  one  I  am  told  that  the 
Almighty  is  now  at  work  in  regions  more  distant 
than  geometry  has    ever    measured,   and   among 
worlds  more   manifold  than  numbers   have  ever 
reached.      But,  by  the  other,  I  am  also  told,  that 
with  a  mind  to  comprehend  the  whole,  in  the  vast 
compass  of  its  generality.  He  has  also  a  mind  to 
concentrate  a  close  and  a  separate  attention  on 
each  and  on  all  of  its  particulars ;  and  that  the 
same  God,  who  sends  forth  an  upholding  influence 
among  the  orbs  and  the  movements  of  astronomy, 
can  fill  the  recesses  of  every  single  atom  with  the 
intimacy  of  his  presence,   and  travel,  in  all  the 
greatness  of  His  unimpaired  attributes,  upon  every 
one  spot  and  corner  of  the  universe  He  has  formed 
They,  therefore,  who  think  that  God  will  not 
put  forth  such  a  power,  and  such  a  goodness,  and 
such  a  condescension,  in  behalf  of  this  world,  as 
are  ascribed  to  Him  in  the  New  Testament,  because 
He  has  so  many  other  worlds  to  attend  to,  think 
of  him  as  a  man.      They  confine  their  view  to  the 
informations  of  the  telescope,  and  forget  altogether 
the  informations  of  the  other  instrument.      They 
only  find  room  in  their  minds  for  His  one  attribute 
of  a  large  and  general  superintendence ;  and  keep 
out  of  their  remembrance  the   equally  impressive 
proofs  we  have  for  his  other  attribute,  of  a  minute 
and  multiplied  attention  to  all  that  diversity   of 
operations,  where  it  is  He  that  worketh  all  in  all. 
And  when  I  think,  that  as  one  of  the  instruments 
of  philosophy  has  heightened  our  every  impression 
of  the  first  of  these  attributes,  so  another  instru- 
ment has  no  less  heightened  our  impression  of  the 


P?VINE  CONDESCENSION.  83 

second  of  them — then  I  can  no  longer  resist  the 
conclusion,  that  it  would  be  a  transgression  of 
sound  argument,  as  well  as  a  daring  of  impiety, 
to  draw  a  limit  around  the  doings  of  this  unsearch- 
able God — and,  should  a  professed  revelation  from 
heaven  tell  me  of  an  act  of  condescension,  in  be- 
half of  some  separate  world,  so  wonderful,  that 
angels  desired  to  look  into  it,  and  the  Eternal  Son 
had  to  move  from  His  seat  of  glory  to  carry  it  into 
accomplishment,  all  I  ask  is  the  evidence  of  such 
a  revelation  ;  for,  let  it  tell  me  as  much  as  it  may 
of  God  letting  himself  down  for  the  benefit  of  one 
single  province  of  His  dominions,  this  is  no  more 
than  what  I  see  lying  scattered,  in  numberless  ex- 
amples, before  me ;  and  running  through  the  whole 
line  of  my  recollections  ;  and  meeting  me  in  every 
walk  of  observation  to  which  I  can  betake  myself; 
and,  now  that  the  microscope  has  unveiled  the 
wonders  of  another  region,  I  see  strewed  around 
me,  with  a  profusion  which  baffles  my  every  attempt 
to  comprehend  it,  the  evidence  that  there  is  no  one 
portion  of  the  universe  of  God  too  minute  for  His 
notice,  nor  too  humble  for  the  visitations  of  His 
care. 

As  the  end  of  all  these  illustrations,  let  me  be- 
stow a  single  paragraph  on  what  I  conceive  to  be 
the  precise  state  of  this  argument. 

It  is  a  wonderful  thing  that  God  should  be  so 
unencumbered  by  the  concerns  of  a  whole  universe, 
that  He  can  give  a  constant  attention  to  every 
moment  of  every  individual  in  this  world's  popu- 
lation. But,  wonderful  as  it  is,  you  do  not  hesi- 
tate to  admit  it  as  true,  on  the  evidence  of  your 


84.  THE  EXTENT  OF  THE 

own  recollections.  It  is  a  wonderful  thing  that 
He,  whose  eye  is  at  every  instant  on  so  many 
worlds,  should  have  peopled  the  world  we  inhabit 
with  all  the  traces  of  the  varied  design  and  bene- 
volence which  abound  in  it.  But  great  as  the 
wonder  is,  you  do  not  allow  so  much  as  the  sha- 
dow of  improbability  to  darken  it,  for  its  reality 
is  what  you  actually  witness,  and  you  never  think 
of  questioning  the  evidence  of  observation.  It  is 
wonderful,  it  is  passing  wonderful,  that  the  same 
God,  whose  presence  is  diffused  through  immen- 
sity, and  who  spreads  the  ample  canopy  of  His 
administration  over  all  its  dwelling-places,  should, 
with  an  energy  as  fresh  and  as  unexpended  as  if 
He  had  only  begun  the  work  of  creation,  turn 
Him  to  the  neighbourhood  around  us,  and  lavish, 
on  its  every  hand-breadtli,  all  the  exuberance  of 
His  goodness,  and  crowd  it  with  the  many  thou- 
sand varieties  of  conscious  existence.  But,  be 
the  wonder  incomprehensible  as  it  may,  you  do 
not  suffer  in  your  mind  the  burden  of  a  single  doubt 
to  lie  upon  it,  because  you  do  not  question  the  re- 
port of  the  microscope.  You  do  not  refuse  its 
information,  nor  turn  away  from  it  as  an  in- 
competent channel  of  evidence.  But  to  bring 
it  still  nearer  to  the  point  at  issue,  there  arfe 
many  who  never  looked  through  a  microscope, 
but  who  rest  an  implicit  faith  in  all  its  revelations; 
and  upon  what  evidence  I  would  ask?  Upon  tne 
evidence  of  testimony — upon  the  credit  they  give 
to  the  authors  of  the  books  they  have  read,  and  the 
belief  they  put  in  the  record  of  their  observations. 
Now,  at  this  point  I  make  my  stand.      It  is  won- 


DIVINE  CONDESCENSION.  85 

derful  that  God  should  be  so  interested  in  the 
redemption  of  a  single  world,  as  to  send  forth  his 
well-beloved  Son  upon  the  errand ;  and  He,  to 
accomplish  it,  should,  mighty  to  save,  put  forth 
all  His  strength,  and  travail  in  the  greatness  of  it. 
But  such  wonders  as  these  have  already  multi- 
plied upon  you;  and  when  evidence  is  given  of 
their  truth,  you  have  resigned  your  every  judg- 
ment of  the  unsearchable  God,  and  rested  in  the 
faith  of  them.  I  demand,  in  the  name  of  sound 
and  consistent  philosophy,  that  you  do  the  same 
in  the  matter  before  us — and  take  it  up  as  a  ques- 
tion of  evidence — and  examine  that  medium  of 
testimony  through  which  the  miracles  and  infor- 
mations of  the  Gospel  have  come  to  your  door — 
and  go  not  to  admit  as  argument  here,  what  would 
not  be  admitted  as  argument  in  any  of  the  analo- 
gies of  nature  and  observation — and  take  along 
with  you  in  this  field  of  inquiry,  a  lesson  which 
you  should  have  learned  upon  other  fields — even 
the  depth  of  the  riches  both  of  the  wisdom  and  the 
knowledge  of  God,  that  His  judgments  are  un- 
searchable, and  His  ways  are  past  finding  out. 

I  do  not  enter  at  all  into  the  positive  evidence 
for  the  truth  of  the  Christian  Re^'elation,  my  single 
aim  at  present  being  to  dispose  of  one  of  the  objec- 
tions which  is  conceived  to  stand  in  the  way  of  it. 
Let  me  suppose  then,  that  this  is  done  to  the  sa- 
tisfaction of  a  philosophical  inquirer ;  and  that  the 
evidence  is  sustained ;  and  that  the  same  mind  that 
is  familiarized  to  all  the  sublimities  of  natural  sci- 
ence, and  has  been  in  the  habit  of  contemplating 
God  in  association  with  all  the  magnificence  which 


86  THE  EXTENT  OF  THE 

is  around  him,  shall  be  brought  to  submit  its 
thoughts  to  the  captivity  of  the  doctrine  of  Christ. 
Oh!  with  what  veneration,  and  gratitude,  and 
wonder,  should  he  look  on  the  descent  of  Him  into 
this  lower  world,  who  made  all  these  things,  and 
without  whom  was  not  any  thing  made  that  was 
made.  What  a  grandeur  does  it  throw  over  every 
step  in  the  redemption  of  a  fallen  world,  to  think 
of  its  being  done  by  Him  who  unrobed  Him  of  the 
glories  of  so  wide  a  monarchy,  and  came  to  this 
humblest  of  its  provinces,  in  the  disguise  of  a  ser- 
vant, and  took  upon  Him  the  form  of  our  degraded 
species,  and  let  Himself  down  to  sorrows,  and  to 
sufferings,  and  to  death,  for  us  !  In  this  love  of 
an  expiring  Saviour  to  those  for  whom  in  agony 
He  poured  out  His  soul,  there  is  a  height,  and  a 
depth,  and  a  length,  and  a  breadth,  more  than  I 
can  comprehend ;  and  let  me  never  from  this  mo- 
ment neglect  so  great  a  salvation,  or  lose  my  hold 
of  an  atonement,  made  sure  by  Him  who  cried 
that  it  was  finished,  and  brought  in  an  everlasting 
righteousness.  It  was  not  the  visit  of  an  empty 
parade  that  He  made  to  us.  It  was  for  the  accom- 
plishment of  some  substantial  purpose  ;  and  if  that 
purpose  is  announced,  and  stated  to  consist  in  His 
dying  the  just  for  the  unjust,  that  He  might  bring 
us  unto  God,  let  us  never  doubt  of  our  acceptance 
in  that  way  of  communication  with  our  Father  in 
heaven,  which  he  hath  opened  and  m.ade  known  to 
us.  In  taking  to  that  way,  let  us  follow  His  every 
direction,  with  that  humility  which  a  sense  of  all 
this  wonderful  condescension  is  fitted  to  inspire. 
Let  us  forsake  all  that  He  bids  us  forsake.      Let 


DIVINE  condesce:;sion.  87 

us  do  all  that  He  bids  us  do.  Let  us  give  our* 
selves  up  to  his  guidance  with  the  docility  of  child- 
ren overpowered  by  a  kindness  that  we  never 
merited,  and  a  love  that  is  unequalled  by  all  the 
perverseness  and  all  the  ingratitude  of  our  stubborn 
nature — for  what  shall  we  render  unto  Him  for 
such  mysterious  benefits — to  him  who  has  thus 
been  mindful  of  us — to  him  who  thus  has  deigned 
to  visit  us  ? 

But  the  whole  of  this  argument  is  not  yet  ex- 
hausted. We  have  scarcely  entered  on  the  defence 
that  is  commonly  made  against  the  plea  which  In- 
fidelity rests  on  the  wonderful  extent  of  the  universe 
of  God,  and  the  insignificancy  of  our  assigned  por- 
tion of  it.  The  way  in  which  we  have  attempted 
to  dispose  of  this  plea,  is  by  insisting  on  the  evi- 
dence that  is  every  where  around  us,  of  God  com- 
bining, with  the  largeness  of  a  vast  and  mighty 
superintendance,  which  reaches  the  outskirts  of 
creation,  and  spreads  over  all  its  amplitudes — the 
faculty  of  bestowing  as  much  attention,  and  exer- 
cising as  complete  and  manifold  a  wisdom,  and 
lavishing  as  profuse  and  inexhaustible  a  goodness, 
on  each  of  its  humblest  departments,  as  if  it  formed 
the  whole  extent  of  His  territory. 

In  the  whole  of  this  argument  we  have  looked 
upon  the  earth  as  isolated  from  the  rest  of  the 
universe  altogether.  But,  according  to  the  way 
in  which  the  astronomical  objection  is  commonly 
met,  the  earth  is  not  viewed  as  in  a  state  of  de- 
tachment from  the  other  worlds,  and  the  other 
orders  of  being  which  God  has  called  into  existence. 
It  is  looked  upon  as  the  member  of  a  more  extend- 


88  THE  EXTENT  OF  THE 

ed  system.  It  is  associated  with  the  magnificence 
of  a  moral  empire,  as  wide  as  the  kingdom  of  na- 
ture. It  is  not  merely  asserted,  what  in  our  last 
Discourse  has  been  already  done,  that  for  any 
thing  we  can  know  by  reason,  the  plan  of  redemp- 
tion may  have  its  influences  and  its  bearings  on 
those  creatures  of  God  who  people  other  regions, 
and  occupy  other  fields  in  the  immensity  of  his 
dominions ;  that  to  argue,  therefore,  on  this  plan 
being  instituted  for  the  single  benefit  of  the  world 
we  live  in,  and  of  the  species  to  which  we  belong, 
is  a  mere  presumption  of  the  Infidel  himself;  and 
that  the  objection  he  rears  on  it  must  fall  to  the 
ground,  when  the  vanity  of  the  presumption  is 
exposed.  The  Christian  apologist  thinks  he  can 
go  farther  than  this — that  he  can  not  merely  ex- 
pose the  utter  baselessness  of  the  Infidel  assertion, 
but  that  he  has  positive  ground  for  erecting  an 
opposite  and  a  confronting  assertion  in  its  place — 
and  that,  after  having  neutralized  their  position, 
by  showing  the  entire  absence  of  all  observation 
in  its  behalfj  he  can  pass  on  to  the  distinct  and 
affirmative  testimony  of  the  Bible. 

We  do  think  that  this  lays  open  a  very  interest- 
ing track,  not  of  wild  and  fanciful,  but  of  most 
legitimate  and  sober-minded  speculation.  And 
anxious  as  w^e  are  to  put  every  thing  that  bears 
upon  the  Christian  argument,  into  all  its  lights; 
and  fearless  as  we  feel  for  the  result  of  a  most 
thorough  sifting  of  it ;  and  thinking  as  we  do  think 
it,  the  foulest  scorn  that  any  pigmy  philosopher  of 
the  day  should  mince  his  ambiguous  scepticism  to 
a  set  of  giddy  and  ignorant  admirers,  or  that  a 


DIVINE  CONDESCENSION.  89 

half-learned  and  superficial  public  should  associate 
with  the  Christian  priesthood,  the  blindness  and 
the  bigotry  of  a  sinking  cause — with  these  feelings 
we  are  not  disposed  to  shun  a  single  question  that 
may  be  started  on  the  subject  of  the  Christian 
evidences.  There  is  not  one  of  its  parts  or  bear- 
ings which  needs  the  shelter  of  a  disguise  thrown 
over  it.  Let  the  priests  of  another  faith  ply  their 
prudential  expedients,  and  look  so  wise  and  so 
wary  in  the  execution  of  them.  But  Christianity 
stands  in  a  higher  and  a  firmer  attitude.  The  de- 
fensive armour  of  a  shrinking  or  timid  policy  does 
not  suit  her.  Hers  is  the  naked  majesty  of  truth; 
and  with  all  the  grandeur  of  age,  but  with  none 
of  its  infirmities,  has  she  come  down  to  us,  and 
gathered  new  strength  from  the  battles  she  has 
won  in  the  many  controversies  of  many  genera- 
tions. With  such  a  religion  as  this  there  is  no- 
thing to  hide.  All  should  be  above  boards.  And 
the  broadest  light  of  day  should  be  made  fully  and 
freely  to  circulate  throughout  all  her  secrecies. 
But  secrets  she  has  none.  To  her  belong  the 
frankness  and  the  simplicity  of  conscious  greatness; 
and  whether  she  has  to  contend  with  the  pride  of 
philosophy,  or  stand  in  fronted  opposition  to  the 
prejudices  of  the  multitude,  she  does  it  upon  her 
own  strength,  and  spurns  all  the  props  and  all  the 
auxiliaries  of  superstition  away  from  her. 


9U       KNOWLEDGE  OF  MAN's  MORAL  HISTORY 


DISCOURSE  IV. 

ON  THE  KNOWLEDGE  OF  MAN'S  MORAL  HIS- 
TORY IN  THE  DISTANT  PLACES  OF  CREATION. 


'*  Wtich  things  the  angels  desire  to  look  into." — 1  Petee  i.  12. 

There  is  a  limit,  across  which  man  cannot  carry- 
any  one  of  his  perceptions,  and  from  the  ulterior  of 
which  he  cannot  gather  a  single  observation  to 
guide  or  to  inform  him.  While  he  keeps  by  the 
objects  which  are  near,  he  can  get  the  knowledge 
of  them  conveyed  to  his  mind  through  the  ministry 
of  several  of  the  senses.  He  can  feel  a  substance 
that  is  within  reach  of  his  hand.  He  can  smell  a 
flower  that  is  presented  to  him.  He  can  taste  the 
food  that  is  before  him.  He  can  hear  a  sound  of 
certain  pitch  and  intensity  ;  and,  so  much  does  this 
sense  of  hearing  widen  his  intercourse  with  external 
nature,  that,  from  the  distance  of  miles,  it  can  bring 
him  in  an  occasional  intimation. 

But  of  all  the  tracts  of  conveyance  which  God 
has  been  pleased  to  open  up  between  the  mind  of 
man,  and  the  theatre  by  which  he  is  surrounded, 
there  is  none  by  which  he  so  multiplies  his  acquain- 
tance with  the  rich  and  the  varied  creation  on  every 
side  of  him,  as  by  the  organ  of  the  eye.  It  is  this 
which  gives  to  man  his  loftiest  command  over  the 
scenery  of  nature.  It  is  this  by  which  so  broad  a 
range  of  observation  is  submitted  to  him.     It  is  this 


IN  DISTANT  PLACES  OF  CREATION.  91 

which  enables  him,  by  the  act  of  a  single  moment, 
to  send  an  exploring  look  over  the  surface  of  an 
ample  territory,  to  crowd  his  mind  with  the  whole 
assembly  of  its  objects,  and  to  fill  his  vision  with 
those  countless  hues  which  diversify  and  adorn  it. 
It  is  this  which  carries  him  abroad  over  all  that 
is  sublime  in  the  immensity  of  distance;  which 
sets  him  as  it  were  on  an  elevated  platform,  from 
whence  he  may  cast  a  surveying  glance  over  the 
arena  of  innumerable  worlds  ;  which  spreads  before 
him  so  mighty  a  province  of  contemplation,  that  the 
earth  he  inhabits  only  appears  to  furnish  him  with 
the  pedestal  on  which  he  may  stand,  and  from  which 
he  may  descry  the  wonders  of  all  that  magnificence 
which  the  Divinity  has  poured  so  abundantly  around 
him.  It  is  by  the  narrow  outlet  of  the  eye,  that 
the  mind  of  man  takes  its  excursive  flight  over 
those  golden  tracks,  v/here,  in  all  the  exhaustless- 
ness  of  creative  wealth,  lie  scattered  the  suns  and 
the  systems  of  astronomy.  But  how  good  a  thing  it 
is,  and  how  becoming  well,  for  the  philosopher  to 
be  humble  even  amid  the  proudest  march  of  human 
discovery,  and  the  sublimest  triumphs  of  the  human 
understanding,  when  he  thinks  of  that  unsealed 
barrier,  beyond  which  no  power,  either  of  eye  or 
of  telescope,  shall  ever  carry  him ;  when  he  thinks 
that,  on  the  other  side  of  it,  there  is  a  height,  and  a 
depth,  and  a  length,  and  a  breadth,  to  which  the 
whole  of  this  concave  and  visible  firmament  dwindles 
into  the  insignificancy  of  an  atom — and  above  all,  how 
ready  should  he  be  to  cast  every  lofty  imagination 
away  from  him,  when  he  thinks  of  the  God,  \^ho, 
on  the  simple  foundation  of  His  word,  has  reared 


92  KNOWLEDGE  OF  MAn's  MORAL  HISTORY 

the  whole  of  this  stately  architecture,  and,  by  the 
force  of  His  preserving  hand,  continues  to  uphold 
it ;  and  should  the  word  again  come  out  from  Him, 
that  this  earth  shall  pass  away,  and  a  portion  of 
the  heavens  which  are  around  it,  shall  fall  back  into 
the  annihilation  from  which  He  at  first  summoned 
them — what  an  impressive  rebuke  does  it  bring  on 
the  swelling  vanity  of  science,  to  think  that  the 
whole  field  of  its  most  ambitious  enterprises  may 
be  swept  away  altogether,  and  still  there  remain 
before  the  eye  of  Him  who  sitteth  on  the  throne, 
an  untravelled  immensity,  which  He  hath  filled 
with  innumerable  splendours,  and  over  the  whole 
face  of  which  he  hath  inscribed  the  evidence  of  His 
high  attributes,  in  all  their  might,  and  in  all  their 
manifestation. 

But  man  has  a  great  deal  more  to  keep  him 
humble  of  his  understanding,  than  a  mere  sense  of 
that  boundary  which  skirts  and  which  terminates 
the  material  field  of  his  contemplations.  He  ought 
also  to  feel,  hovv*,  within  that  boundary,  the  vast 
majority  of  things  is  mysterious  and  unknown  to 
him — that  even  in  the  inner  chamber  of  his  own 
consciousness,  where  so  much  lies  hidden  from  the 
observation  of  others,  there  is  also  to  himself  a  little 
world  of  incomprehensibles ;  that  if  stepping  beyond 
the  limits  of  this  familiar  home,  he  look  no  farther 
than  to  the  members  of  his  family,  there  is  much 
in  the  cast  and  the  colour  of  every  mind  that  is 
above  his  powers  of  divination ;  that  in  proportion  as 
he  recedes  from  the  centre  of  his  ovrn  personal  ex- 
perience, there  is  a  cloud  of  ignorance  and  secrecy 
which  spreads,  and  thickens,  and  throws  a  deep 


IN  DISTANT  PLACES  OF  CREATION.  93 

and  impenetrable  veil  over  the  intricacies  of  every 
one  department  of  human  contemplation ;  that  of 
all  around  him,  his  knowledge  is  naked  and  super- 
ficial, and  confined  to  a  few  of  those  more  conspicu- 
ous lineaments  which  strike  upon  his  senses ;  that 
the  whole  face,  both  of  nature  and  of  society,  pre- 
sents him  with  questions  which  he  cannot  unriddle, 
and  tells  him  that  beneath  the  surface  of  all  that  the 
eye  can  rest  upon,  there  lies  the  profoundness  of  a 
most  unsearchable  latency ;  and  should  he  in  some 
lofty  enterprise  of  thought,  leave  this  world,  and 
shoot  afar  into  those  tracks  of  speculation  which 
astronomy  has  opened,  should  he,  baffled  by  the 
mysteries  which  beset  his  footsteps  upon  earth, 
attempt  an  ambitious  flight  towards  the  mysteries 
of  heaven — let  him  go,  but  let  the  justness  of  a 
pious  and  philosophical  modesty  go  along  with  him 
— let  him  forget  not,  that  from  the  moment  his 
mind  has  taken  its  ascending  way  for  a  few  little 
miles  above  the  world  he  treads  upon,  his  every  sense 
abandons  him  but  one — that  number,  and  motion, 
and  magnitude,  and  figure,  make  up  all  the  bare- 
ness of  its  elementary  informations — that  these  orbs 
have  sent  him  scarce  another  message  than  told  by 
their  feeble  glimmering  upon  his  e}  e,  the  simple 
fact  of  their  existence — that  he  sees  not  the  land- 
scape of  other  worlds — that  he  knows  not  the  moral 
system  of  any  one  of  them — nor  athwart  the  long 
and  trackless  vacancy  which  lies  between,  does 
there  fall  upon  his  listening  ear  the  hum  of  their 
mighty  populations. 

But  the  knowledge  which  he  cannot  fetch  up 
himseli"  from  the  obscurity  of  this  wondrous  but 


94       KNOWLEDGE  OF  MAN's  MORAL  HISTORY 

"untravelled  scene,  by  the  exercise  of  any  one  of  his 

own  senses,  might  be  fetched  to  him  by  the  testi- 
mony of  a  competent  messenger.  Conceive  a 
native  of  one  of  these  planetary  mansions  to  hght 
upon  our  world ;  and  all  we  should  require,  would 
be,  to  be  satisfied  of  his  credentials,  that  we  may 
give  our  faith  to  every  point  of  information  he  had 
to  offer  us.  With  the  soHtary  exception  of  what 
we  have  been  enabled  to  gather  by  the  instruments 
of  astronomy,  there  is  not  one  of  his  communications 
about  the  place  he  came  from,  on  which  we  possess 
any  means  at  all  of  confronting  him ;  and,  there- 
fore, could  he  only  appear  before  us  invested  with 
the  characters  of  truth,  we  should  never  think  of 
any  thing  else  than  taking  up  the  whole  matter  of 
his  testimony  just  as  he  brought  it  to  us. 

It  were  well  had  a  sound  philosophy  schooled 
its  professing  disciples  to  the  same  kind  of  acquies- 
cence in  another  message,  which  has  actually  come 
to  the  world ;  and  has  told  us  of  matters  still  more 
remote  from  every  power  of  unaided  observation  ; 
and  has  been  sent  from  a  more  subhme  and  myste- 
rious distance,  even  from  that  God  of  whom  it  is 
said,  that  "clouds  and  darkness  are  the  habitation 
of  his  throne  ;"  and  treating  of  a  theme  so  lofty 
and  so  inaccessible,  as  the  counsels  of  that  Eternal 
Spirit,  *'  whose  goings  forth  are  of  old,  even  from 
everlasting,"  challenges  of  man  that  he  should  sub- 
mit his  every  thought  to  the  authority  of  this  high 
communication.  Oh  I  had  the  philosophers  of  the 
day  known  as  well  as  their  great  master,  how  to 
draw  the  vigorous  land-mark  which  verges  the  field 
of  legitimate  discovery,  thev  should  have  seen  when 


IN  DISTANT  PLACES  OF  CREATION.  95 

it  is  that  philosophy  becomes  vain,  and  science  is 
falsely  so  called;  and  how  it  is,  that  when  philo- 
sophy is  true  to  her  principles,  she  shuts  up  her 
faithful  votary  to  the  Bible,  and  makes  him  wilhng 
to  count  all  but  loss,  for  the  knowledge  of  Jesus 
Christ,  and  of  Him  crucified. 

But  let  it  be  well  observed,  that  the  object  of 
this  message  is  not  to  convey  information  to  us 
about  the  state  of  these  planetary  regions.  This  is 
not  the  matter  with  which  it  is  fraught.  It  is  a 
message  from  the  throne  of  God  to  this  rebellious 
province  of  His  dominions ;  and  the  purpose  of  it 
is,  to  reveal  the  fearful  extent  of  our  guilt  and  of 
our  danger,  and  to  lay  before  us  the  overtures  of 
reconciliation.  Were  a  similar  message  sent  from 
the  metropolis  of  a  mighty  empire  to  one  of  its 
remote  and  revolutionary  districts,  we  should  not 
look  to  it  for  much  information  about  the  state  or 
economy  of  the  intermediate  provinces.  This  were 
a  departure  from  the  topic  on  hand — though  still 
there  may  chance  to  be  some  incidental  allusions 
to  the  extent  and  resources  of  the  whole  monarchy, 
to  the  existence  of  a  similar  spirit  of  rebellion  in 
other  quarters  of  the  land,  or  to  the  general 
principle  of  loyalty  by  which  it  was  pervaded. 
Some  casual  references  of  this  kind  may  be  inserted 
in  such  a  proclamation,  or  they  may  not — and  it  is 
with  this  precise  feeling  of  ambiguity  that  we  open 
the  record  of  that  embassy  which  has  been  sent  us 
from  heaven,  to  see  if  we  can  gather  any  thing 
there,  about  ether  places  of  the  creation,  to  meet  the 
objections  of  the  infidel  astronomer.  But,  while  we 
pursue  this  object,  let  us  be  careful  not  to  push 


96       XNOWLEDdE  OF  MA.N'S  M0R4L  HISTORY 

the  speculation  beyond  the  limits  of  the  written 
tustimony;  let  us  keep  a  just  and  a  steady  eye  on 
the  actual  boundary  of  our  knowledge,  that,  through- 
out every  distinct  step  of  our  argument,  we  might 
preserve  that  chaste  and  unambitious  spirit,  which 
characterizes  the  philosophy  of  him  who  explored 
these  distant  heavens,  and,  by  the  force  of  his 
genius,  unravelled  the  secret  of  that  wondrous 
mechanism  which  upholds  them. 

The  informations  of  the  Bible  upon  this  subject, 
are  of  two  sorts — that  from  which  we  confidently 
gather  the  fact,  that  the  history  of  the  redemption 
of  our  species  is  known  in  other  and  distant  places 
of  the  creation — and  that  from  which  we  indistinct- 
ly guess  at  the  fact,  that  the  redemption  itself  may 
stretch  beyond  the  limits  of  the  world  we  occupy. 

And  here  it  may  shortly  be  adverted  to,  that, 
though  we  know  little  or  nothing  of  the  moral  and 
theological  economy  of  the  other  planets,  we  are 
not  to  infer,  that  the  beings  who  occupy  these  widely 
extended  regions,  even  though  not  higher  than  we 
in  the  scale  of  understanding,  know  little  of  ours. 
Our  first  parents,  ere  they  committed  that  act  by 
which  they  brought  themselves  and  their  posterity 
into  the  need  of  redemption,  had  frequent  and  fam- 
iliar intercourse  with  God.  He  walked  with  them 
in  the  garden  of  paradise,  and  there  did  angels  hold 
their  habitual  converse ;  and,  should  the  same  un- 
blotted  innocence  which  charmed  and  attracted 
these  superior  beings  to  the  haunts  of  Eden,  be 
perpetuated  in  every  planet  but  our  own,  then 
might  each  of  them  be  the  scene  of  high  and 
heavenly  communications,  and  an  open  way  for  the 


IN  DISTANT  PLACES  OF  CREATION.  97 

messengers  of  God  be  kept  up  with  them  all,  and 
then-  JnhaDitams  bo  admitted  to  a  share  in  the  themes 
and  contemplations  of  angels,  and  have  their  spirits 
exercised  on  those  things,  of  which  we  are  told  that 
the  angels  desired  to  look  into  them ;  and  thus,  as 
we  talk  of  the  public  mind  of  a  city,  or  the  public 
mind  of  an  empire — by  the  well-frequented  avenues 
of  a  free  and  ready  circulation,  a  public  mind  might 
be  formed  throughout  the  whole  extent  of  God's 
sinless  and  intelligent  creation — and,  just  as  we 
often  read  of  the  eyes  of  all  Europe  being  turned 
to  the  one  spot  where  some  affair  of  eventful  impor- 
tance is  going  on,  there  might  be  the  eyes  of  a  whole 
universe  turned  to  the  one  world,  where  rebellion 
against  the  Majesty  of  heaven  had  planted  its 
standard ;  and  for  the  readmission  of  which  within 
the  circle  of  His  fellowship,  God,  whose  justice  was 
inflexible,  but  whose  mercy  He  had,  by  some  plan 
of  mysterious  wisdom,  made  to  rejoice  over  it,  was 
putting  forth  all  the  might,  and  travailing  in  all 
the  greatness  of  the  attributes  which  belonged  to 
Him. 

But,  for  the  full  understanding  of  this  argument, 
it  must  be  remarked,  that  wh'de  in  our  exiled 
habitation,  where  all  is  darkness,  and  rebellion,  and 
enmity,  the  creature  engrosses  every  heart ;  and 
our  affections,  when  they  shift  at  all,  only  wander 
from  one  fleeting  vanity  to  another,  it  is  not  so  in 
the  habitations  of  the  unfallen.  There,  every  de- 
sire and  every  movement  is  subordinated  to  God. 
He  is  seen  in  all  that  is  formed,  and  in  all  that  is 
spread  around  them — and,  amid  the  fulness  of  that 
dehght  Mith  which  they  expatiate  over  the  good  aim 

VOL.  VII.  E 


98         KNOWLEDGE  OF  MAN's  MORAL  HISTORY 

the  fair  of  this  wondrous  universe,  the  animating 
cnarm  wnich  pervades  their  every  contemplation, 
is,  that  they  behold,  on  each  visible  thing,  the  im- 
press of  the  mind  that  conceived,  and  of  the  hand 
that  made  and  that  upholds  it.  Here,  God  is 
banished  from  the  thoughts  of  every  natural  man, 
and,  by  a  firm  and  constantly  maintained  act  of 
usurpation,  do  the  things  of  sense  and  of  time  wield 
an  entire  ascendancy.  There,  God  is  all  in  all.  They 
walk  in  His  light.  They  rejoice  in  the  beatitudes 
of  His  presence.  The  veil  is  from  oif  their  eyes  ; 
and  they  see  the  character  of  a  presiding  Divinity 
in  every  scene,  and  in  every  event  to  which  the 
Divinity  has  given  birth.  It  is  this  which  stamps 
a  glory  and  an  importance  on  the  whole  field  of 
their  contemplations  ;  and  when  they  see  a  new 
evolution  in  the  history  of  created  things,  the  reason 
they  bend  towards  it  so  attentive  an  eye,  is,  that  it 
speaks  to  their  understanding  some  new  evolution 
in  the  purposes  of  God — some  new  manifestation  of 
His  high  attributes — some  new  and  interesting  step 
in  the  history  of  His  sublime  administration. 

Now,  we  ought  to  be  aware  how  it  takes  off, 
not  from  the  intrinsic  weight,  but  from  the  actual 
impression  of  our  argument,  that  this  devotedness 
to  God  which  reigns  in  other  places  of  the  creation  ; 
this  interest  in  Him  as  the  constant  and  essential 
principle  of  all  enjoyment ;  this  concern  in  the 
untaintedness  of  his  glory ;  this  delight  in  the  survey 
of  His  perfections  and  His  doings,  are  what  the 
men  of  our  corrupt  and  darkened  world  cannot 
sympathize  with. 

But  however  little  we  may  enter  into  it,  the  Bible 


IN  DISTANT  PLACES  OF  CREAXrON.  99 

tells  US,  by  many  intimations,  that  amongst  tliose 
creatures  who  have  not  fallen  from  then-  allegiance, 
nor  departed  from  the  living  God,  God  is  their  all 
— that  love  to  Him  sits  enthroned  in  their  hearts, 
and  fills  them  with  all  the  ecstasy  of  an  overwhelming 
affection — that  a  sense  of  grandeur  never  so  elevates 
their  souls,  as  when  they  look  at  the  might  and 
majesty  of  the  Eternal — that  no  field  of  cloudless 
transparency  so  enchants  them  by  the  blissfidness 
of  its  visions,  as  when,  at  the  shrine  of  infinite  and 
unspotted  holiness,  they  bend  themselves  in  raptured 
adoration — that  no  beauty  so  fascinates  and  attracts 
them,  as  does  that  moral  beauty  which  throws  a 
softening  lustre  over  the  awfulness  of  the  Godhead 
— in  a  word,  that  the  image  of  his  character  is  ever 
present  to  their  contemplations,  and  the  unceasing 
joy  of  their  sinless  existence  lies  in  the  knowledge 
and  the  admiration  of  Deity. 

Let  us  put  forth  an  effort,  and  keep  a  steady  hold 
of  this  consideration,  for  the  deadness  of  our  earthly 
imaginations  makes  an  effort  necessary;  and  we 
shall  perceive,  that  though  the  world  we  live  in  were 
the  alone  theatre  of  redemption,  there  is  a  something 
in  the  redemption  itself  that  is  fitted  to  draw  the 
eye  of  an  arrested  universe  towards  it.  Surely, 
where  delight  in  God  is  the  constant  enjoyment,  and 
the  earnest  intelligent  contemplation  of  God  is  the 
constant  exercise,  there  is  nothing  in  the  whole 
compass  of  nature  or  of  history,  that  can  so  set  His 
adoring  myriads  upon  the  gaze,  as  some  new  and 
wondrous  evolution  of  the  character  of  God.  Now 
this  is  found  in  the  plan  of  our  redemption ;  nor  do 
we  see  how,  in  any  transaction  between  the  great 


100        KNOWLEDGE  OF  MAN's  MORAL  HISTORY 

Father  of  existence,  and  the  children  who  have 
sprung  from  Him,  the  moral  attributes  of  the  Deity 
could,  if  we  may  so  express  ourselves,  be  put  to  so 
severe  and  so  delicate  a  test.  It  is  true,  that  the 
great  matters  of  sin  and  of  salvation,  fall  without  im- 
pression on  the  heavy  ears  of  a  listless  and  alienated 
world.  But  they  who,  to  use  the  language  of  the 
Bible,  are  hght  in  the  Lord,  look  otherwise  at  these 
things.  They  see  sin  in  all  its  malignity,  and  sal- 
vation in  all  its  mysterious  greatness.  And  it  would 
put  them  on  the  stretch  of  all  their  faculties,  when 
they  saw  rebellion  lifting  up  its  standard  against  the 
Majesty  of  heaven,  and  the  truth  and  the  justice  of 
God  embarked  on  the  threatenings  He  had  uttered 
against  all  the  doers  of  iniquity,  and  the  honours  of 
that  august  throne,  which  has  the  firm  pillars  of 
immutability  to  rest  upon,  linked  with  the  fulfilment 
of  the  law  that  had  come  out  from  it ;  and  when 
nothing  else  was  looked  for,  but  that  God,  by  putting 
forth  the  power  of  His  wrath,  should  accomplish 
His  every  denunciation,  and  vindicate  the  inflexi- 
bility of  His  government,  and,  by  one  sweeping  deed 
of  vengeance,  assert,  in  the  sight  of  all  His  creatures, 
the  sovereignty  which  belonged  to  Him — with  what 
desire  must  they  have  pondered  on  His  ways,  when, 
amid  the  urgency  of  all  those  demands  which  looked 
so  high  and  so  indispensable,  they  saw  the  unfoldings 
of  the  attribute  of  mercy — and  that  the  Supreme 
Lawgiver  was  bending  upon  His  guilty  creatures 
an  eye  of  tenderness — and  that,  in  His  profound 
and  unsearchable  wisdom.  He  was  devising  for  them 
some  plan  of  restoration — and  that  the  eternal  Son 
had  to  move  from  His  dwelling-place  in  heaven,  to 


IN  DISTANT  PLACES  OF  CREATION.  101 

carry  it  forward  through  all  the  difficulties  by  which 
it  was  encompassed — and  that,  after  by  the  virtue 
of  His  mysterious  sacrifice  He  had  magnified  the 
glory  of  every  other  perfection,  He  made  mercy 
rejoice  over  them  all,  and  threw  open  a  way  by 
which  we  sinful  and  polluted  wanderers  might,  with 
the  whole  lustre  of  theDivine  character  untarnished, 
be  re-admitted  into  fellowship  with  God,  and  be 
again  brought  back  within  the  circle  of  His  loyal 
and  affectionate  family. 

Now,  the  essential  character  of  such  a  transac- 
tion, viewed  as  amanifestationof  God,  does  not  hang 
upon  the  number  of  worlds,  over  which  this  sin 
and  this  salvation  may  have  extended.  We  know 
that  over  this  one  world  such  an  economy  of  wisdom 
and  of  mercy  is  instituted — and,  even  should  this  be 
the  only  world  that  is  embraced  by  it,  the  moral 
display  of  the  Godhead  is  mainly  and  substantially 
the  same,  as  if  it  reached  throughout  the  whole  of 
that  habitable  extent  which  the  science  of  astronomy 
has  made  known  to  us.  By  the  disobedience  of 
this  one  world,  the  law  was  trampled  on — and,  in 
the  business  of  making  truth  and  mercy  to  meet, 
and  have  a  harmonious  accomplishment  on  the  men 
of  this  world,  the  dignity  of  God  was  put  to  the 
same  trial ;  the  justice  of  God  appeared  to  lay  the 
same  immoveable  barrier ;  the  wisdom  of  God  had 
to  clear  a  way  through  the  same  difficulties ;  the 
forgiveness  of  God  had  to  find  the  same  mysterious 
conveyance  to  the  sinners  of  a  solitary  world,  as  to 
the  sinners  of  half  a  universe.  The  extent  of  the 
field  upon  which  this  question  was  decided,  has  no 
more  influence  on  the  question  itself,  than  the  figure 


102       KNOWLEDGE  OF  MAn's  MCEAL  HISTORY 

or  the  dimensions  of  that  field  of  combat,  on  which 
some  great  political  question  was  fought,  has  on 
the  importance  or  on  the  moral  principles  of  the 
controversy  that  gave  rise  to  it.  This  objection 
about  the  narrowness  of  the  theatre,  carries  along 
with  it  all  the  grossness  of  materialism.  To  the 
eye  of  spiritual  and  intelligent  beings,  it  is  nothing. 
In  their  view,  the  redemption  of  a  sinful  world 
derives  its  chief  interest  from  the  display  it  gives  of 
the  mind  and  purposes  of  the  Deity — and,  should 
that  world  be  but  a  single  speck  in  the  immensity 
of  the  works  of  God,  the  only  way  in  which  this 
affects  their  estimate  of  Him  is  to  magnify  His 
loving-kindness — who,  rather  than  lose  one  solitary 
world  of  the  myriads  He  has  formed,  would  lavish 
all  the  riches  of  His  beneficence  and  of  His  wisdom 
on  the  recovery  of  its  guilty  population. 

Now,  though  it  must  be  admitted  that  the  Bible 
does  not  speak  clearly  or  decisively  as  to  the  proper 
eff'ect  of  redemption  being  extended  to  other  worlds; 
it  speaks  most  clearly  and  most  decisively  about  the 
knowledge  of  its  being  disseminated  amongst  other 
orders  of  created  intelligence  than  our  own.  But 
if  the  contemplation  of  God  be  their  supreme 
enjoyment,  then  the  very  circumstance  of  our  re- 
demption being  known  to  them,  may  invest  it,  even 
though  it  be  but  the  redemption  of  one  solitary  world, 
with  an  importance  as  wide  as  the  universe  itself. 
It  may  spread  amongst  the  hosts  of  immensity  a 
new  illustration  of  the  character  of  Him  who  is  all 
their  praise ;  and  in  looking  towards  whom  every 
energy  within  them  is  moved  to  the  exercise  of  a 
deep  and  delighted  admiration.      The  scene  of  the 


IN  DISTANT  PLACES  OF  CREATION.  103 

transaction  may  be  narrow  in  point  of  material  ex- 
tent ;  while  in  the  transaction  itself  there  may  be 
such  a  moral  dignity,  as  to  blazon  the  perfections  of 
the  Godhead  over  the  face  of  creation ;  and,  from 
the  manifested  glory  of  the  Eternal,  to  send  forth  a 
tide  of  ecstasy,  and  of  high  gratulation,  throughout 
the  whole  extent  of  His  dependent  provinces. 

We  shall  not,  in  proof  of  the  position,  that  the 
history  of  our  redemption  is  known  in  other  and 
distant  places  of  creation,  and  is  matter  of  deep 
interest  and  feeling  amongst  other  orders  of  created 
intelligence — we  shall  not  put  down  all  the  quota- 
tions which  might  be  assembled  together  upon  this 
argument.  It  is  an  impressive  circumstance,  that 
when  Moses  and  Elias  made  a  visit  to  our  Saviour 
on  the  mount  of  transfiguration,  and  appeared  in 
glory  from  heaven,  the  topic  they  brought  along 
with  them,  and  with  which  they  were  fraught,  Avas 
the  decease  He  was  going  to  accomplish  at  Jer- 
usalem. And  however  insipid  the  things  of  our 
salvation  may  be  to  an  earthly  understanding ;  we 
are  made  to  know,  that  in  the  sufferings  of  Christ, 
and  the  glory  which  should  follow,  there  is  matter 
to  attract  the  notice  of  celestial  spirits,  for  these 
are  the  very  things,  says  the  Bible,  which  the  angels 
desire  to  look  into.  And  however  listlessly  we,  the 
dull  and  grovelling  children  of  an  exiled  family,  may 
feel  about  the  perfections  of  the  Godhead,  and  the 
display  of  these  perfections  in  the  economy  of  the 
Gospel ;  it  is  intimated  to  us  in  the  book  of  God's 
message,  that  the  creation  has  its  districts  and  its 
provinces ;  and  we  accordingly  read  of  thrones  and 
dominions,    and   principalities   and    powers — and 


104       KNOWLEDGE  OF  MAN's  MORAL  HISTORY 

whether  these  terms  denote  the  separate  regions  of 
governmentj  or  the  bemgs  who,  by  a  commission 
granted  from  the  sanctuary  of  heaven,  sit  in  dele- 
gated authority  over  them — even  in  their  eyes  the 
mystery  of  Christ  stands  arrayed  in  all  the  splendour 
of  unsearchable  riches ;  for  we  are  told  that  this 
mystery  was  revealed  for  the  very  intent,  that  unto 
the  principahties  and  powers,  in  heavenly  places, 
might  be  made  known  by  the  church,  the  manifold 
wisdom  of  God.  And  while  we,  whose  prospect 
reaches  not  beyond  the  narrow  limits  of  the  corner 
we  occupy,  look  on  the  dealings  of  God  in  the  world, 
as  carrying  in  them  all  the  insignificancy  of  a 
provincial  transaction ;  God  Himself,  whose  eye 
reaches  to  places  which  our  eye  hath  not  seen,  nor 
our  ear  heard  of,  neither  hath  it  entered  into  the 
imagination  of  our  heart  to  conceive,  stamps  a 
universality  on  the  whole  matter  of  the  Christian 
salvation,  by  such  revelations  as  the  following : — 
That  he  is  to  gather  together  in  one  all  things  in 
Christ,  both  which  are  in  heaven,  and  which  are 
m  earth,  even  in  him — and  that  at  the  name  of  Jesus 
every  knee  should  bow,  of  things  in  heaven,  and 
things  in  earth,  and  things  under  the  earth — and 
that  by  him  God  reconciled  all  things  unto  himself, 
whether  they  be  things  in  earth,  or  things  in  heaven. 
We  will  not  say  in  how  far  some  of  these  passages 
extend  the  proper  effect  of  that  redemption  which 
is  by  Christ  Jesus,  to  other  quarters  of  the  universe 
of  God ;  but  they  at  least  go  to  estabhsh  a  widely- 
disseminated  knowledge  of  this  transaction  amongst 
the  other  orders  of  created  intelligence.  And  they 
give  us  a  distant  glimpse  of  something  more  ex- 


IN  DISTANT  PLACES  OF  CREATION.  105 

tended.  They  present  a  faint  opening,  through 
which  may  be  seen  some  few  traces  of  a  wider  and 
a  nobler  dispensation.  They  bring  before  us  a  dim 
transparency,  on  the  other  side  of  which  the  images 
of  an  obscure  magnificence  dazzle  indistinctly  upon 
the  eye;  and  tell  us,  that  in  the  economy  of 
redemption,  there  is  a  grandeur  commensurate  to 
all  that  is  known  of  the  other  works  and  purposes 
of  the  Eternal.  They  offer  us  no  details;  and 
man,  who  ought  not  to  attempt  a  wisdom  above 
that  which  is  written,  should  never  put  forth  his 
hand  to  the  drapery  of  that  impenetrable  curtain 
which  God,  in  His  mysterious  wisdom,  has  spread 
over  those  ways,  of  which  it  is  but  a  very  small 
portion  that  we  know  of  them.  But  certain  it  is, 
that  we  know  so  much  of  them  from  the  Bible ; 
and  the  Infidel,  with  all  the  pride  of  his  boasted 
astronomy,  knows  so  little  of  them,  from  any  power 
of  observation — that  the  baseless  argument  of  his, 
on  which  we  have  dwelt  so  long,  is  overborne  in 
the  light  of  all  that  positive  evidence  which  God 
has  poured  around  the  record  of  His  own  testimony, 
and  even  in  the  light  of  its  more  obscure  and  casual 
intimations. 

The  minute  and  variegated  details  of  the  w^ay  in 
which  this  wondrous  economy  is  extended,  God 
has  chosen  to  withhold  from  us ;  but  He  has 
oftener  than  once,  made  to  us  a  broad  and  a 
general  announcement  of  its  dignity.  He  does  not 
tell  us,  whether  the  fountain  opened  in  the  house 
of  Judah,  for  sin  and  for  uncleanness,  sends  forth 
its  healing  streams  to  other  worlds  than  our  own. 
He  does  not  tell  us  the  extent  of  the  atonement. 
E  2 


106       KNOWLEDGE  OF  MAN's  MORAL  HISTORY 

But  He  tells  us  that  the  atonement  itself,  known, 
as  it  is,  among  the  myriads  of  the  celestial,  forms 
the  high  song  of  eternity ;  that  the  Lamb  who  was 
slain,  is  surrounded  by  the  acclamations  of  one  wide 
and  universal  empire ;  that  the  might  of  His 
wondrous  achievements,  spreads  a  tide  of  gratulation 
over  the  multitudes  who  are  about  His  throne ;  and 
that  there  never  ceases  to  ascend  from  the  wor- 
shippers of  Him,  who  washed  us  from  our  sins 
in  his  blood,  a  voice  loud  as  from  numbers  with- 
out number,  sweet  as  from  blessed  voices  uttering 
joy,  when  heaven  rings  jubilee,  and  loud  hosannahs 
fill  the  eternal  regions. 

"  And  I  beheld,  and  I  heard  the  voice  of  many 
angels  round  about  the  throne ;  and  the  number  of 
them  was  ten  thousand  times  ten  thousand,  and 
thousands  of  thousands ;  saying  with  a  loud  voice, 
Worthy  is  the  Lamb  that  was  slain  to  receive  power, 
and  riches,  and  wisdom,  and  strength,  and  honour, 
and  glory,  and  blessing.  And  every  creature  which 
is  in  heaven,  and  on  earth,  and  under  the  earth, 
and  such  as  are  in  the  sea,  and  all  that  are  in  them, 
heard  I  saying.  Blessing,  and  honour,  and  glory, 
and  power,  be  unto  him  that  sitteth  on  the  throne, 
and  unto  the  Lamb,  for  ever  and  ever." 

A  king  might  have  the  whole  of  his  reign 
crowded  with  the  enterprises  of  glory ;  and  by  the 
might  of  his  arms,  and  the  wisdom  of  his  counsels, 
might  win  the  first  reputation  among  the  potentates 
of  the  world ;  and  be  idolized  throughout  all  his 
provinces,  for  the  wealth  and  the  security  that  he 
had  spread  around  them — and  still  it  is  conceivable, 
that  by  the  act  of  a  single  day  in  behalf  of  a  single 


IN  DISTANT  PLACES  OF  CREATION.  107 

family;  by  some  soothing  visitation  of  tenderness  to 
a  poor  and  solitary  cottage ;  by  some  deed  of 
compassion,  which  conferred  enlargement  and  relief 
on  one  despairing  sufferer ;  by  some  graceful  move- 
ment of  sensibiUtyata  tale  of  wretchedness;  by  some 
noble  effort  of  self-denial,  in  virtue  of  which  he 
subdued  his  every  purpose  of  revenge,  and  spread 
the  mantle  of  a  generous  oblivion  over  the  fault  of 
the  man  who  had  insulted  and  aggrieved  him; 
above  all,  by  an  exercise  of  pardon  so  skilfully 
administered,  as  that,  instead  of  bringing  him  down 
to  a  state  of  defencelessness  against  the  provocation 
of  future  injuries,  it  threw  a  deeper  sacredness 
over  him,  and  stamped  a  more  inviolable  dignity 
than  ever  on  his  person  and  character: — why,  on 
the  strength  of  one  such  performance,  done  in  a 
single  hour,  and  reaching  no  farther  in  its  immediate 
effects  than  to  one  house,  or  to  one  individual,  it 
is  a  most  possible  thing,  that  the  highest  monarch 
upon  earth  might  draw  such  a  lustre  around  him, 
as  would  eclipse  the  renown  of  all  his  public 
achievements — and  that  such  a  display  of  mag- 
nanimity, or  of  worth,  beaming  from  the  secrecy  of 
his  familiar  moments,  might  waken  a  more  cordial 
veneration  in  every  bosom,  than  all  the  splendour 
of  his  conspicuous  history — and  that  it  might  pass 
down  to  posterity  as  a  more  enduring  monument 
of  greatness,  and  raise  him  farther,  by  its  moral 
elevation,  above  the  level  of  ordinary  praise ;  and 
when  he  passes  in  review  before  the  men  of  distant 
ages,  may  this  deed  of  modest,  gentle,  unobtrusive 
virtue,  be  at  all  times  appealed  to,  as  the  iBost 
sublime  and  touching  memorial  of  his  name. 


108       KNOWLEDGE  OF  MAN's  MORAL  HISTORY 

In  like  manner  did  the  King  eternal,  immortal, 
and  invisible,  suiToiraded  as  He  is  with  the  splen- 
dours of  a  wide  and  everlasting  monarchy,  turn 
Him  to  our  humble  habitation ;  and  the  footsteps 
of  God  manifest  in  the  flesh,  have  been  on  the 
narrow  spot  of  ground  we  occupy;  and  small  though 
our  mansion  be,  amid  the  orbs  and  the  systems  of 
immensity,  hither  hath  the  King  of  glory  bent  His 
mysterious  way,  and  entered  the  tabernacle  of  men, 
and  in  the  disguise  of  a  servant  did  he  sojourn  for 
years  under  the  roof  which  canopies  our  obscure 
and  solitary  world.  Yes,  it  is  but  a  twinkUng  atom 
in  the  peopled  infinity  of  worlds  that  are  around  it 
— but  look  to  the  moral  grandeur  of  the  transaction, 
and  not  to  the  material  extent  of  the  field  upoa 
which  it  v>as  executed — and  from  the  retirement  of 
our  dwelling-place,  there  may  issue  forth  such  a 
display  of  the  Godhead,  as  will  circulate  the  glories 
of  His  name  amongst  all  his  worshippers.  Here 
sin  entered.  Here  was  the  kind  and  unwearied 
beneficence  of  a  Father,  repaid  by  the  ingratitude 
of  a  whole  family.  Here  the  law  of  God  was  dis- 
honoured, and  that  too  in  the  face  of  its  proclaimed 
and  unalterable  sanctions.  Here  the  mighty  con- 
test of  the  attributes  was  ended — and  when  justice 
put  forth  its  demands,  and  truth  called  for  the 
fulfilment  of  its  warnings,  and  the  immutability  of 
God  would  not  recede  by  a  single  iota  from  any 
one  of  its  positions,  and  all  the  severities  He  ever 
uttered  against  the  children  of  iniquity,  seemed  to 
gather  into  one  cloud  of  threatening  vengeance  on 
the  tenement  that  held  us — did  the  visit  of  the  only- 
begotten  Son  chase  away  all  these  obstacles  to  the 


IN  DISTANT  PLACES  OF  CREATION.  i09 

triumph  of  mercy — and  humble  as  the  tenement 
may  be,  deeply  shaded  in  the  obscurity  of  insigni- 
ficance as  it  is,  among  the  statelier  mansions  which 
are  on  every  side  of  it — yet  will  the  recall  of  its 
exiled  family  never  be  forgotten,  and  the  illustration 
that  has  been  given  here  of  the  mingled  grace  and 
majesty  of  God,  will  never  lose  its  place  among  the 
themes  and  the  acclamations  of  eternity. 

And  here  it  may  be  remarked,  that  as  the  earthly 
king  who  throws  a  moral  aggrandizement  around 
him  by  the  act  of  a  single  day,  finds,  that  after  its 
performance  he  may  have  the  space  of  many  years 
for  gathering  to  himself  the  triumphs  of  an  extended 
reign — so  the  King  who  sits  on  high,  and  with  whom 
one  day  is  as  a  thousand  years,  and  a  thousand 
years  as  one  day,  will  find,  that  after  the  period  of 
that  special  administration  is  ended,  by  which  this 
strayed  world  is  again  brought  back  wdthin  the  limits 
of  His  favoured  creation,  there  is  room  enough 
along  the  mighty  track  of  eternity,  for  accumulating 
upon  Himself  a  glory  as  wide  and  as  universal  as 
is  the  extent  of  his  dominions.  You  will  allow  the 
most  illustrious  of  this  world's  potentates,  to  give 
some  hour  of  his  private  history  to  a  deed  of  cot- 
tage or  of  domestic  tenderness  ;  and  every  time  you 
think  of  the  interesting  story,  you  will  feel  how 
sweetly  and  how  gracefully  the  remembrance  of  it 
blends  itself  with  the  fame  of  his  public  achieve- 
ments. But  still  you  think  that  there  would  not 
have  been  room  enough  for  these  achievements  of 
his,  had  much  of  his  time  been  spent,  either  amongst 
the  habitations  of  the  poor,  or  in  the  retirement  of 
his  own  family  ;  and  you  conceive,  that  it  is  because 


110       KNOWLEDGE  OF  MAN's  MORAL  HISTORY 

a  sinc^le  day  bears  so  small  a  proportion  to  the 
time  of  hLs  whole  history,  that  he  has  been  able  to 
combine  an  interesting  display  of  private  worth, 
with  aU  that  briUiancy  of  exhibition,  which  has 
brought  him  down  to  posterity  in  the  character  of 
an  august  and  a  mighty  sovereign. 

Now  apply  this  to  the  matter  before  us.  Had  the 
history  of  our  redemption  been  confined  v.ithin  the 
limits  of  a  single  day,  the  argument  that  Infidelity 
has  drawn  from  the  multitude  of  other  worlds  would 
never  have  been  offered.  It  is  true,  that  ours  is 
but  an  insignificant  portion  of  the  territory  of  God 
— but  if  the  attentions  by  which  He  has  signalized 
it.  had  only  taken  up  a  single  day,  this  would  never 
have  occurred  to  us  as  forming  any  sensible  with- 
drawment  of  the  mind  of  the  Deity  from  the  concerns 
of  His  vast  and  universal  government.  It  is  the 
time  which  the  plan  of  our  salvation  requires,  that 
startles  all  those  on  whom  this  argument  has  any 
impression.  It  is  the  time  taken  up  about  this 
paltry  world,  which  they  feel  to  be  out  of  propor- 
tion to  the  number  of  other  worlds,  and  to  the  im- 
mensity of  the  surrounding  creation.  Now,  to 
meet  this  impression,  we  do  not  insist  at  present  on 
what  we  have  already  brought  forward,  that  God> 
whose  ways  are  not  as  our  ways,  can  have  His  eye 
at  the  same  instant  on  every  place,  and  can  divide 
and  diversify  His  attention  into  any  number  of 
distinct  exercises.  What  we  have  now  to  remark 
is,  that  the  Infidel  who  urges  the  astronomical  ob- 
jection to  the  truth  of  Christianity,  is  only  looking 
with  half  an  eye  to  the  principle  on  which  it  rests. 
Carry  oat  the  principle,  and  the  objection  vanishes. 


IN  DISTANT  PLACES  OF  CREATION.  Ill 

lie  looks  abroad  on  the  immensity  of  space,  and 
tells  us  how  impossible  it  is,  that  this  narrow  corner 
of  it  can  be  so  distinguished  by  the  attentions  of 
the  Deity.  Why  does  he  not  also  look  abroad  on 
the  magnificence  of  eternity ;  and  perceive  how  the 
whole  period  of  these  peculiar  attentions,  how  the 
whole  time  which  elapses  between  the  fall  of  man 
and  the  consummation  of  the  scheme  of  his  recovery, 
is  but  the  twinkling  of  a  moment  to  the  mighty  roll 
of  innumerable  ages  ?  The  whole  interval  between 
the  time  of  Jesus  Christ's  leaving  his  Father's  abode 
to  sojourn  amongst  us,  to  that  time  when  He  shall 
have  put  all  his  enemies  under  His  feet,  and  deliver- 
ed up  the  kingdom  to  God  even  His  Father,  that 
God  may  be  all  in  all ;  the  whole  of  this  interval 
bears  as  small  a  proportion  to  the  whole  of  the  Al- 
mighty's reign,  as  this  solitary  world  does  to  the 
universe  around  it ;  and  an  infinitely  smaller  pro- 
portion than  any  time,  however  short,  which  an 
earthly  monarch  spends  on  some  enterprise  of  private 
benevolence,  does  to  the  whole  walk  of  his  public 
and  recorded  history. 

Why  then  does  not  the  man,  who  can  shoot  his 
conceptions  so  sublimely  abroad  over  the  field  of  an 
immensity  that  knows  no  limits — why  does  he  not 
also  shoot  them  forward  through  the  vista  of  a  suc- 
cession, that  ever  flows  without  stop  and  without 
termination  ?  He  has  stept  across  the  confines  of 
this  world's  habitation  in  space,  and  out  of  the  field' 
which  lies  on  the  other  side  of  it  has  he  gathered 
an  argument  against  the  truth  of  revelation.  We 
feel  that  we  have  nothing  to  do  but  to  step  across 
the  confines  of  this  world's  liistory  in  time,  and  out 


112  KNOWLEDGE  OF  M.'.n's  MORAL,  &C. 

of  the  futurity  which  lies  beyond  it  can  we  gather 
that  which  will  blow  the  argument  to  pieces,  or 
stamp  upon  it  all  the  narrowness  of  a  partial  and 
mistaken  calculation.  The  day  is  coming  when  the 
whole  of  this  wondrous  history  shall  be  looked  back 
upon  by  the  eye  of  remembrance,  and  be  regarded 
as  one  incident  in  the  extended  annals  of  creation  ; 
and,  with  all  the  illustration  and  all  the  glory  it  has 
thrown  on  the  character  of  the  Deity,  will  it  be  seen 
as  a  single  step  in  the  evolution  of  His  designs ; 
and  long  as  the  time  may  appear,  from  the  first  act 
of  our  redemption  to  its  final  accomplishment,  and 
close  and  exclusive  as  we  may  think  the  attentions 
of  God  upon  it,  it  will  be  found  that  it  has  left  Him 
room  enough  for  all  His  concerns ;  and  that,  on  the 
high  scale  of  eternity,  it  is  but  one  of  those  passing 
and  ephemeral  transactions  which  crowd  the  history 
of  a  never-ending  administration. 


THE  SYMPATHY  FELT  FOR  M;^Nj  &C.         U3 


DISCOURSE  V. 

ON  THE  SYMPATHY  THAT  IS  FELT  FOR  MAN 
IN  THE  DISTANT  PLACES  OF  CREATION. 


**  I  say  unto  you,  That  likewise  joy  shall  be  in  heaven  over  one 
sinner  that  repenteth,  more  than  over  ninety  and  nine  just 
persons,  which  need  no  repentance.'' — Luke  xv.  7. 

We  have  already  attempted  at  full  length  to  es- 
tablish the  position,  that  the  infidel  argument  of 
asti'onomers  goes  to  expunge  a  natural  perfection 
from  the  character  of  God,  even  that  wondrous 
property  of  His,  by  which  He,  at  the  same  instant 
of  time,  can  bend  a  close  and  a  careful  attention 
on  a  countless  diversity  of  objects,  and  diffuse  the 
intimacy  of  His  power  and  of  His  presence,  from 
the  greatest  to  the  minutest  and  most  insignificant 
of  them  all.  We  also  adverted  shortly  to  this  other 
circumstance,  that  it  went  to  impair  a  moral  at- 
tribute of  the  Deity.  It  goes  to  impair  the  bene- 
volence of  His  nature.  It  is  saying  much  for  the 
benevolence  of  God,  to  say,  that  a  single  world,  or 
a  single  system,  is  not  enough  for  it — that  it  must 
have  the  spread  of  a  mightier  region,  on  which  it 
may  pour  forth  a  tide  of  exuberancy  throughout  all 
its  provinces — that  as  far  as  our  vision  can  carry 
us,  it  has  strewed  immensity  with  the  floating  re- 
ceptacles of  life,  and  has  stretched  over  each  of 
them  the  garniture  of  such  a  sky  as  mantles  our 


114  THE  SYMPATHY  FELT  FOR  MAN 

own  habitation — and  that  even  from  distances  which 
are  far  beyond  the  reach  of  human  eye,  the  songs 
of  gratitude  and  praise  may  now  be  arising  to  the 
one  God,  who  sits  surrounded  by  the  regards  of 
His  one  great  and  universal  family. 

Now  it  is  saying  much  for  the  benevolence  of 
God,  to  say,  that  it  sends  forth  these  wide  and 
distant  emanations  over  the  surface  of  a  territory 
so  ample,  that  the  world  we  inhabit,  lying  imbed- 
ded, as  it  does,  amidst  so  much  surrounding  great- 
ness, shrinks  into  a  point  that  to  the  universal  eye 
might  appear  to  be  almost  imperceptible.  But 
does  it  not  add  to  the  power  and  to  the  perfection 
of  this  universal  eye,  that  at  the  very  moment  it  is 
taking  a  comprehensive  survey  of  tlie  vast,  it  can 
fasten  a  steady  and  undistracted  attention  on  each 
minute  and  separate  portion  of  it ;  that  at  the  very 
moment  it  is  looking  at  all  worlds,  it  can  look  most 
pointedly  and  most  intelligently  to  each  of  them  ; 
that  at  the  very  moment  it  sweeps  the  field  of  im- 
mensity, it  can  settle  all  the  earnestness  of  its 
regards  upon  every  distinct  handbreadth  of  that 
field ;  that  at  the  very  moment  at  which  it  embraces 
the  totality  of  existence,  it  can  send  a  most  thorough 
and  penetrating  inspection  into  each  of  its  details, 
and  into  every  one  of  its  endless  diversities  ?  We 
cannot  fail  to  perceive  how  much  this  adds  to  the 
power  of  the  all-seeing  eye.  Tell  us  then,  if  it  do  not 
add  as  much  perfection  to  the  benevolence  of  God, 
that  while  it  is  expatiating  over  the  vast  field  of 
created  things,  there  is  not  one  portion  of  the  field 
overlooked  by  it ;  that  while  it  scatters  blessings 
over  the  whole  of  an  infinite  range,  it  causes  them 


IN  DISTANT  PLACES  OF  CREATION.  115 

to  descend  in  a  shower  of  plenty  on  every  separate 
habitation ;  that  while  His  arm  is  underneath  and 
round  about  all  worlds,  He  enters  within  the  pre- 
cincts of  every  one  of  them,  and  gives  a  care  and  a 
tenderness  to  each  individual  of  their  teeming  po- 
pulation. Does  not  the  God,  who  is  said  to  be 
love,  shed  over  this  attribute  of  his  its  finest  illus- 
tration— when,  while  He  sits  in  the  highest  heaven, 
and  pours  out  His  fulness  on  the  whole  subordinate 
domain  of  nature  and  of  providence,  He  bows  a 
pitying  regard  on  the  very  humblest  of  His  children, 
and  sends  His  reviving  Spirit  into  every  heart,  and 
cheers  by  His  presence  every  home,  and  provides 
for  the  wants  of  every  family,  and  watches  every 
sick-bed,  and  listens  to  the  complaints  of  every 
sufferer;  and  while  by  his  wondrous  mind  the 
weight  of  universal  government  is  borne,  is  it  not 
more  wondrous  and  more  excellent  still,  that  He 
feels  for  every  sorrow,  and  has  an  car  open  to  every 
prayer  ? 

"  It  doth  not  yet  appear  what  we  shall  be,"  says 
the  apostle  John,  ''  but  we  know  that  when  he  shall 
appear,  we  shall  be  like  him,  for  we  shall  see  him 
as  he  is."  It  is  the  present  lot  of  the  angels,  that 
they  behold  the  face  of  our  Father  in  heaven,  and  it 
would  seem  as  if  the  effect  of  this  was  to  form  and 
to  perpetuate  in  them  the  moral  likeness  of  Him- 
self, and  that  they  reflect  back  upon  Him  His  own 
image,  and  that  thus  a  diffused  resemblance  to  the 
Godhead  is  kept  up  amongst  all  those  adoring  wor- 
shippers who  live  in  the  near  and  rejoicing  contem- 
plation of  the  Godhead.  Mark  then  how  that 
peculiar  and  endearing  feature  in  the  goodness  of 


116  THE  SYMPATHY  FELT  FOR  MAN 

the  Deity,  which  we  have  just  now  adverted  to — 
mark  how  beauteousiy  it  is  reilected  downwards 
upon  us  in  the  revealed  attitude  of  angels.  From 
the  high  eminences  of  heaven,  are  they  bending  a 
w^akeful  regard  over  the  men  of  this  sinful  world  ; 
and  the  repentance  of  every  one  of  them  spreads  a 
joy  and  a  high  gratulation  throughout  all  its 
dwelling-places.  Put  this  trait  of  the  angelic 
character  into  contrast  with  the  dark  and  louring 
spirit  of  an  Infidel.  He  is  told  of  the  multitude  of 
other  worlds,  and  he  feels  a  kindling  magnificence 
in  the  conception,  and  he  is  seduced  by  an  elevation 
which  he  cannot  carry,  and  from  this  airy  summit 
does  he  look  down  on  the  insignificance  of  the  world 
we  occupy,  and  pronounces  it  to  be  unworthy  of 
those  visits  and  of  those  attentions  which  we  read 
of  in  the  New  Testament.  He  is  unable  to  wing 
his  upward  way  along  the  scale,  either  of  moral  or 
of  natural  perfection ;  and  when  the  wonderful 
extent  of  the  field  is  made  known  to  him,  over 
which  the  wealth  of  the  Divinity  is  lavished — there 
he  stops,  and  wilders,  and  altogether  misses  this 
essential  perception,  that  the  power  and  perfection 
of  the  Divinity  are  not  more  displayed  by  the  mere 
magnitude  of  the  field,  than  they  are  by  that  minute 
and  exquisite  filling  up,  which  leaves  not  its  smallest 
portions  neglected  ;  but  which  imprints  the  fulness 
of  the  Godhead  upon  every  one  of  them  ;  and  proves, 
by  every  flower  of  the  pathless  desert,  as  well  as 
by  every  orb  of  immensity,  how  this  unsearchable 
Being  can  care  for  all,  and  provide  for  all,  and, 
throned  in  mystery  too  high  for  us,  can,  throughout 
every  instant  of  time,  keep  His  attentive  eye  on 


IN  DISTANT  PLACES  OF  CREATION.  .  l^ 

every  separate  thing  that  He  has  formed,  and,  by 
an  act  of  His  thoughtful  and  presiding  intelhgence, 
can  constantly  embrace  all. 

But  God,  compassed  about  as  He  is  with  light 
inaccessible,  and  full  of  glory,  lies  so  hidden  from 
the  ken  and  conception  of  all  our  faculties,  that 
the  spirit  of  man  sinks  exhausted  by  its  attempts 
to  comprehend  Him.  Could  the  image  of  the 
Supreme  be  placed  direct  before  the  eye  of  the 
mind,  that  flood  of  splendour,  which  is  ever  issuing 
from  Him  on  all  who  have  the  privilege  of  behold- 
ing, would  not  only  dazzle,  but  overpower  us.  And 
therefore  it  is,  that  we  bid  you  look  to  the  reflection 
of  that  image,  and  thus  to  take  a  view  of  its  miti- 
gated glories,  and  to  gather  the  lineaments  of  the 
Godhead  in  the  face  of  those  righteous  angels,  who 
have  never  thrown  away  from  them  the  resemblance 
in  which  they  were  created ;  and,  unable  as  you 
are  to  support  the  grace  and  the  majesty  of  that 
countenance,  before  which  the  seers  and  the  pro- 
phets of  other  days  fell,  and  became  as  dead  men, 
let  us,  before  we  bring  this  argument  to  a  close, 
borrow  one  lesson  of  Him  who  sitteth  on  the  throne, 
from  the  aspect  and  the  revealed  doings  of  those 
who  are  surrounding  it. 

The  Infidel,  then,  as  he  widens  the  field  of  his 
contemplations,  would  suffer  its  every  separate  ob- 
ject to  die  away  into  forgetfulness  :  these  angels, 
expatiating  as  they  do,  over  the  range  of  a  loftier 
universality,  are  represented  as  all  awake  to  the 
history  of  each  of  its  distinct  and  subordinate  pro- 
vinces. The  Infidel,  with  his  mind  afloat  among 
suns  and  among  systems,  can  find  no  place  in  his 


118  SYMPATHY  FELT   FOR   MAN 

already  occupied  regards,  for  that  humble  planet 
which  lodges  and  accommodates  our  species :  the 
angels,  standing  on  a  loftier  summit,  and  with  a 
mightier  prospect  of  creation  before  them,  are  yet 
represented  as  looking  down  on  this  single  world, 
and  attentively  marking  the  every  feeling  and  the 
every  demand  of  all  its  families.  The  Infidel,  by 
sinking  us  down  to  an  unnoticeable  minuteness, 
would  lose  sight  of  our  dwelling-place  altogether, 
and  spread  a  darkening  shroud  of  oblivion  over  all 
the  concerns  and  all  the  interests  of  men  :  but  the 
angels  will  not  so  abandon  us;  and  undazzled  by  the 
whole  surpassing  grandeur  of  that  scenery  which  is 
around  them,  are  they  revealed  as  directing  all  the 
fulness  of  their  regard  to  this  our  habitation,  and 
casting  a  longing  and  a  benignant  eye  on  ourselves 
and  on  our  children.  The  Infidel  will  tell  us  of 
those  worlds  which  roll  afar,  and  the  number  of 
which  outstrips  the  arithmetic  of  the  human  un- 
derstanding— and  then,  with  the  hardness  of  an 
unfeeling  calculation,  will  he  consign  the  one  we 
occupy,  with  all  its  guilty  generations,  to  despair. 
But  He  who  counts  the  number  of  the  stars,  is  set 
forth  to  us  as  looking  at  every  inhabitant  among 
the  millions  of  our  species,  and  by  the  word  of  the 
Gospelbeckoning  to  him  with  the  hand  of  invitation, 
and  on  the  very  first  step  of  his  return,  as  moving 
towards  him  with  all  the  eagerness  of  the  prodigal's 
father,  to  receive  him  back  again  into  that  presence 
from  which  he  had  wandered.  And  as  to  this 
world,  in  favour  of  which  the  scowling  Infidel  will 
not  permit  one  solitary  movement,  all  heaven  is 
represented  as  in  a  stir  about  its  restoration  j  and 


IN  DISTANT  PLACES  OF  CREATION.  119 

there  cannot  a  single  son,  or  a  single  daughter, 
be  recalled  from  sin  unto  righteousness,  without  an 
acclamation  of  joy  amongst  the  hosts  of  Paradise. 
And  we  can  say  it  of  the  humblest  and  the  unwor- 
thiest  of  you  all,  that  the  eye  of  angels  is  upon  him, 
and  that  his  repentance  would,  at  this  moment, 
send  forth  a  wave  of  delighted  sensibility  through- 
out the  mighty  throng  of  their  innumerable  legions. 

Now,  the  single  question  we  have  to  ask,  is, 
On  which  of  the  two  sides  of  this  contrast  do  we  see 
most  of  the  impress  of  heaven  ?  Which  of  the  two 
would  be  most  glorifying  to  God  ?  Which  of  them 
carries  upon  it  most  of  that  evidence  which  lies  in 
its  having  a  celestial  character  ?  For  if  it  be  the 
side  of'the  Infidel,  then  must  all  our  hopes  expire 
with  the  ratifying  of  that  fatal  sentence,  by  which 
the  world  is  doomed,  through  its  insignificancy,  to 
perpetual  exclusion  from  the  attentions  of  the  God- 
head. We  have  long  been  knocking  at  the  door  of 
your  understanding,  and  have  tried  to  find  an  ad- 
mittance to  it  for  many  an  argument.  We  now 
make  our  appeal  to  the  sensibilities  of  your  heart ; 
and  tell  us  to  whom  does  the  moral  feeling  within 
it  yield  its  readiest  testimony — to  the  Infidel,  who 
w^ould  make  this  world  of  ours  vanish  away  into 
abandonment — or  to  those  angels,  who  ring  through- 
out all  their  mansions  the  hosannas  of  joy,  over 
every  one  individual  of  its  repentant  population  ? 

And  here  we  cannot  omit  to  take  advantage  of 
that  opening  with  which  the  Saviour  has  furnished 
113,  by  the  parables  of  this  chapter,  and  admits  us 
into  a  familiar  view  of  that  principle  on  which  the 
inhabitants  of  heaven  are  so  awake  to  the  deliverance 


120  SYMPATHY  FELT  FOR  MAN 

and  the  restoration  of  our  species.      To  illustrate 
the  diifevence  in  the  reach  of  knowledge  and  of 
aifection,  between  a  man  and  an  angel,  let  us  think 
of  the  difference  of  reach  between  one  man  and 
another.      You  may  often  witness  a  man,  who  feels 
neither  tenderness  nor  care  beyond  the  precincts  of 
his  own  family ;  but  w^ho,  on  the  strength  of  those 
instinctive  fondnesses  which  nature  has  implanted 
in  his  bosom,  may  earn  the  character  of  an  amiable 
father,  or  a  kind  husband,  or  a  bright  example  of 
all  that  is  soft  and  endearing  in  the  relations  of 
domestic  society.      Now  conceive  him,  in  addition 
to  all  this,  to  carry  his  affections  abroad,  without, 
at  the  same  time,  any  abatement  of  their  intensity 
towards  the  objects  which  are  at  home — that,  step- 
ping across  the  limits  of  the  house  he  occupies,  he 
takes  an  interest  in  the  families  which  are  near  him 
— that  he  lends  his  services   to  the  town  or  the 
district  wherein  he  is  placed,  and  gives  up  a  portion 
of  his  time  to  the  thoughtful  labours  of  a  humane 
and  public-spirited  citizen.     By  this  enlargement 
in  the  sphere  of  his  attention,  he  has  extended  his 
reach;  and,  provided  he  has  not  done  so  at  the 
expense  of  that  regard  wliich  is  due  to  his  family, 
a  thing  which,  cramped  and  confined  as  we  are,  we 
are  very  apt,  in  the  exercise  of  our  humble  faculties, 
to  do — I  put  it  to  you,  Mhether  by  extending  the 
reach  of  his  views  and  his  affections,  he  has  not 
extended  his   worth  and  his  moral  respectability 
along  with  it? 

But  we  can  conceive  a  still  farther  enlargement. 
We  can  figure  to  ourselves  a  man,  whose  wakeful 
sympathy  overflows  the  field  of  his  own  immediate 


IN  DISTANT  PLACES  OF  CREATION.         121 

neighbourhood — to  whom  the  name  of  country 
comes  with  all  the  omnipotence  of  a  charm  upon 
his  heart,  and  with  all  the  urgency  of  a  most 
righteous  and  resistless  claim  upon  his  services — 
who  never  hears  the  name  of  Britain  sounded  in 
his  ears,  but  it  stirs  up  all  his  enthusiasm  in  behalf 
of  the  worth  and  the  welfare  of  its  people — who 
gives  himself  up,  with  all  the  devotedness  of  a 
passion,  to  the  best  and  the  purest  objects  of 
patriotism — and  who,  spurning  away  from  him  the 
vulgarities  of  party  ambition,  separates  his  life  and 
his  labours  to  the  fine  pursuit  of  augmenting  the 
science,  or  the  virtue,  or  the  substantial  prosperity 
of  his  nation.  O  !  could  such  a  man  retain  all  the 
tenderness,  and  fulfil  all  the  duties  which  home  and 
which  neighbourhood  require  of  him,  and  at  the 
same  time,  expatiate  in  the  might  of  his  untired 
faculties,  on  so  wide  a  field  of  benevolent  contem- 
plation— would  not  this  extension  of  reach  place 
him  still  higher  than  before,  on  the  scale  both  of 
moral  and  intellectual  gradation,  and  give  him  a 
still  brighter  and  more  enduring  name  in  the  records 
of  human  excellence  ? 

And,  lastly,  we  can  conceive  a  still  loftier 
flight  of  humanity — a  man,  the  aspiring  of  whose 
heart  for  the  good  of  man,  knows  no  limitations— 
whose  longings  and  whose  conceptions  on  this 
subject,  overleap  all  the  barriers  of  geography — 
who,  looking  on  himself  as  a  brother  of  the  species, 
links  every  spare  energy  which  belongs  to  him, 
with  the  cause  of  its  amelioration — who  can  embrace 
within  the  grasp  of  his  ample  desires,  the  whole 
family   of  mankind — and   who,  in  obedience  to  a 

VOL.  VII.  F 


122  SYMPATHY  FELT  FOR  MAN 

heaven-born  movement  of  principle  within  him, 
separates  himself  to  some  big  and  busy  enterprise, 
which  is  to  tell  on  the  moral  destinies  of  the  world. 
Could  such  a  man  mix  up  the  softenings  of  private 
virtue,  with  the  habit  of  so  sublime  a  comprehension 
— if,  amid  those  magnificent  darings  of  thought  and 
of  performance,  the  mildness  of  his  benignant  eye 
could  still  continue  to  cheer  the  retreat  of  his  family, 
and  to  spread  the  charm  and  the  sacredness  of 
piety  among  all  its  members — could  he  even  mingle 
himself  in  all  the  gentleness  of  a  soothed  and  a 
smiling  heart,  with  the  playfulness  of  his  children 
— and  also  find  strength  to  shed  the  blessings  of 
his  presence  and  his  counsel  over  the  vicinity  around 
him ; — would  not  the  combination  of  so  much  grace 
with  so  much  loftiness,  only  serve  the  more  to 
aggrandize  him  ?  Would  not  the  one  ingredient 
of  a  character  so  rare,  go  to  illustrate  and  to 
magnify  the  other?  And  would  not  you  pro- 
nounce him  to  be  the  fairest  specimen  of  our  na- 
ture, who  could  so  call  out  all  your  tenderness, 
while  he  challenged  and  compelled  all  your  venera- 
tion? 

Nor  can  we  proceed,  at  this  point  of  our  argu- 
ment, without  adverting  to  the  way  in  which  this 
last  and  this  largest  style  of  benevolence  is  ex- 
emplified in  our  own  country — a^  here  the  spirit  of 
the  Gospel  has  given  to  many  of  its  enlightened 
disciples,  the  impulse  of  such  a  philanthropy,  as 
carries  abroad  »their  wishes  and  their  endeavours 
to  the  very  outskirts  of  human  population — a  phil- 
anthropy, of  which,  if  you  asked  the  extent  or  the 
boundary   of   its   field,  we   should  answer  in  the 


IN  DISTANT  PLACES  OF  CREATION.  123 

language  of  inspiration,  that  the  field  is  the  world 

a  philanthropy,  which  overlooks  all  the  distinctions 

of  cast  and  of  colour,  and  spreads  its  ample  regards 
over  the  whole  brotherhood  of  the  species — a 
philanthropy,  which  attaches  itself  to  man  in  the 
general;  to  man  throughout  all  his  varieties ;  to  man 
as  the  partaker  of  one  common  nature,  and  who, 
in  whatever  clime  or  latitude  you  may  meet  with 
him,  is  found  to  breathe  the  same  sympathies,  and 
to  possess  the  same  high  capabilities  both  of  bliss 
and  of  improvement.  It  is  true,  that,  upon  this 
subject,  there  is  often  a  loose  and  unsettled  mag- 
nificence of  thought,  which  is  fruitful  of  nothing 
but  empty  speculation.  But  the  men  to  whom  we 
allude,  have  not  imaged  the  enterprise  in  the  form 
of  a  thing  unknown.  They  have  given  it  a  local 
habitation.  They  have  bodied  it  forth  in  deed 
and  in  accomplishment.  They  have  turned  the 
dream  into  a  reality.  In  them,  the  power  of  a 
lofty  generalization  meets  with  its  happiest  attem- 
perment,  in  the  principle  and  perseverance,  and 
all  the  chastening  and  subduing  virtues  of  the  New 
Testament.  And,  were  we  in  search  of  that  fine 
union  of  grace  and  of  greatness  which  we  have 
now  been  insisting  on,  and  in  virtue  of  which,  the 
enlightened  Christian  can  at  once  find  room  in  his 
bosom  for  the  concerns  of  universal  humanity,  and 
for  the  play  of  kindliness  towards  every  individual 
he  meets  with — we  could  no  where  more  readily 
expect  to  find  it,  than  with  the  worthies  of  our  own 
land — the  Howard  of  a  former  generation,  who 
paced  over  Europe  in  quest  of  the  unseen  wretch- 
edness which  abounds  in  it — or  in  such  men  of  our 


124.  SYMPATHY  FELT  FOR  MAN 

present  generation,  as  Wilberforce,  who  lifted  his 
unwearied  voice  against  the  biggest  outrage  ever 
practised  on  our  nature,  till  he  wrought  its  exter- 
mination— and  Clarkson,  who  plied  his  assiduous 
task  at  rearing  the  materials  of  its  impressive 
history,  and,  at  length  carried,  for  this  righteous 
cause,  the  mind  of  Parliament — and  Carey,  from 
whose  hand  the  generations  of  the  East  are  now 
receiving  the  elements  of  their  moral  renovation — 
and,  in  fine,  those  holy  and  devoted  men,  who  count 
not  their  lives  dear  unto  them;  but,  going  forth 
every  year  from  the  island  of  our  habitation,  carry 
the  message  of  heaven  over  the  face  of  the  world ; 
and,  in  the  front  of  severest  obloquy,  are  now 
labouring  in  remotest  lands;  and  are  reclaiming 
another  and  another  portion  from  the  wastes  of 
dark  and  fallen  humanity ;  and  are  widening  the 
domains  of  gospel  light  and  gospel  principle 
amongst  them ;  and  are  spreading  a  moral  beauty 
around  the  every  spot  on  which  they  pitched  their 
lowly  tabernacle;  and  are  at  length  compelling  even 
the  eye  and  the  testimony  of  gainsayers,  by  the 
success  of  their  noble  enterprise ;  and  are  forcing 
the  exclamation  of  delighted  surprise  from  the 
charmed  and  the  arrested  traveller,  as  he  looks  at 
the  softening  tints  which  they  are  now  spreading 
over  the  wilderness,  and  as  he  hears  the  sound  of 
the  chapel  bell,  and  as  in  those  haunts  where,  at 
the  distance  of  half  a  generation,  savages  would 
have  scowled  upon  his  path,  he  regales  himself  with 
the  hum  of  missionary  schools,  and  the  lovely  spec- 
tacle of  peaceful  and  Christian  villages. 

Such,  then,  is  the  benevolence,  at  once  so  gentle 


IN  DISTANT  PLACES  OF  CREATION.  125 

and  so  lofty,  of  those  men,  who,  sanctmed  by  the 
faith  that  is  in  Jesus,  have  had  their  hearts  visited 
from  heaven  by  a  beam  of  warmth  and  of  sacredness. 
What,  then,  we  should  like  to  know,  is  the  bene- 
volence of  the  place  from  whence  such  an  influence 
Cometh  ?  How  wide  is  the  compass  of  this  virtue 
there,  and  how  exquisite  is  the  feeling  of  its 
tenderness,  and  how  pure  and  how  fervent  are  its 
aspirings  among  those  unfallen  beings  who  have  no 
darkness,  and  no  encumbering  weight  of  corruption 
to  strive  against  ?  Angels  have  a  mightier  reach 
of  contemplation.  Angels  can  look  upon  this  world 
and  all  which  it  inherits,  as  the  part  of  a  larger 
family.  Angels  were  in  the  full  exercise  of  their 
powers  even  at  the  first  infancy  of  our  species,  and 
shared  in  the  gratulations  of  that  period,  when,  at 
the  birth  of  humanity,  all  intelligent  nature  felt  a 
gladdening  impulse,  and  the  morning  stars  sang 
together  for  joy.  They  loved  us  even  with  the 
love  which  a  family  on  earth  bears  to  a  younger 
sister;  and  the  very  childhood  of  our  tinier  faculties 
did  only  serve  the  more  to  endear  us  to  them ;  and 
though  born  at  a  later  hour  in  the  history  of 
creation,  did  they  regard  us  as  heirs  of  the  same 
destiny  with  themselves,  to  rise  along  with  them  in 
the  scale  of  moral  elevation,  to  bow  at  the  same 
footstool,  and  to  partake  in  those  high  dispensations 
of  a  parent's  kindness  and  a  parent's  care,  which 
are  ever  emanating  from  the  throne  of  the  Eternal 
on  all  the  members  of  a  duteous  and  affectionate 
family.  Take  the  reach  of  an  angel's  mind,  but, 
at  the  same  time,  take  the  seraphic  fervour  of  an 
angel's  benevolence  along  with  it ;  how,  from  the 


126  SYMPATHY  FELT  FOR  MAN 

eminence  on  which  he  stands,  he  may  have  an  eye 
upon  many  worlds,  and  a  remembrance  upon  the 
origin  and  the  successive  concerns  of  every  one  of 
them ;  how  he  may  feel  the  full  force  of  a  most 
affecting  relationship  with  the  inhabitants  of  each, 
as  the  offspring  of  one  common  Father;  and  though 
it  be  both  the  effect  and  the  evidence  of  our 
depravity,  that  we  cannot  sympathize  with  these 
pure  and  generous  ardours  of  a  celestial  spirit ;  how 
it  may  consist  with  the  lofty  comprehension,  and  the 
ever-breathing  love  of  an  angel,  that  he  can  both 
shoot  his  benevolence  abroad  over  a  mighty  expanse 
of  planets  and  of  systems,  and  lavish  a  flood  of 
tenderness  on  each  individual  of  their  teeming 
population. 

Keep  all  this  in  view,  and  you  cannot  fail  to 
perceive  how  the  principle,  so  finely  and  so  copiously 
illustrated  in  this  chapter,  may  be  brought  to  meet 
the  infidelity  we  have  thus  long  been  employed  in 
combating.  It  was  nature,  and  the  experience  of 
every  bosom  will  affirm  it — it  was  nature  in  the 
shepherd  to  leave  the  ninety  and  nine  of  his  flock 
forgotten  and  alone  in  the  wilderness,  and  betaking 
himself  to  the  mountains,  to  give  all  his  labour  and 
all  his  concern  to  the  pursuit  of  one  solitary 
wanderer.  It  was  nature — and  we  are'  told  in  the 
passage  before  us,  that  it  is  such  a  portion  of  nature 
as  belongs  not  merely  to  men,  but  to  angels — when 
the  woman,  with  her  mind  in  a  state  of  listlessness 
as  to  the  nine  pieces  of  silver  that  were  in  secure 
custody,  turned  the  whole  force  of  her  anxiety  to 
the  one  piece  which  she  had  lost,  and  for  which 
she  had  to  hght  a  candle,  and  to  sweep  the  house, 


IN  DISTANT  PLACES  OF  CREATION.  127 

and  to  search  diligently  until  she  found  it.    It  was 
nature  in  her  to  rejoice  more  over  that  piece  than 
over  all   the  rest  of  them,  and  to  tell  it  abroad 
among  friends  and    neighbours,  that  they  might 
rejoice  along  with  her— and  sadly  effaced  as  hu- 
manity is,  in  all  her  original  lineaments,  this  is  a 
part  of  our  nature,  the  very  movements  of  which 
are  experienced  in  heaven,  "  where  there  is  more 
joy  over  one  sinner  that  repenteth,  than  over  ninety 
and  nine  just  persons  who  need  no  repentance." 
For  any  thing  we  know,  every  planet  that  rolls  in 
the  immensity  around  us  may  be  a  land  of  right- 
eousness ;  and  be  a  member  of  the  household  of 
God;  and  have  her  secure  dwelling-place  within 
that  ample  limit,  which  embraces  His  great  and 
universal  family.     But  we  know  at  least  of  one  wan- 
derer; and  how  wofully  she  has  strayed  from  peace 
and  from  purity  ;  and  how,  in  dreary  alienation  from 
Him   who  made  her,  she   has  bewildered  herself 
amongst  those  many  devious  tracks,  which  have 
carried  her  afar  from  the  path  of  immortality  ;  and 
how  sadly  tarnished  all  those  beauties  and  fehcities 
are,  which  promised,  on  that  morning  of  her  existence 
when  God  looked  on  her,  and  saw  that  all  was  very 
good — which  promised  so  richly  to  bless  and  to 
adorn  her;  and  how,  in  the  eye  of  the  whole  unfallen 
creation,  she  has  renounced  all  this  godliness,  and 
is  fast  departing  away  from  them  into  guilt,   and 
wretchedness,  and  shame.      If  there  be  any  truth 
in  this  chapter,  and  any  sweet  or  touching  nature 
in  the  principle  which  runs  throughout  all  its  par- 
ables, let  us  cease  to  wonder,  though  they  who 
surround  the  throne  of  love  should  be  looking  so 


128  SYMPATHY  FELT  FOll  MAN 

intentl}^  to^^-ards  us — or  though,  in  the  way  by 
which  they  have  smgled  us  out,  all  the  other  orbs 
of  space  should,  for  one  short  season,  on  the  scale 
of  eternity,  appear  to  be  forgotten — or  though,  for 
every  step  of  her  recovery,  and  for  every  individual 
who  is  rendered  back  as^ain  to  the  fold  from  which 
he  was  separated,  another  and  another  message  of 
triumph  should  be  made  to  circulate  amongst  the 
hosts  of  paradise — or  though,  lost  as  we  are,  and 
sunk  in  depravity  as  we  are,  all  the  S3'mpathies  of 
heaven  should  now  be  awake  on  the  enterprise  of 
Him  who  has  travailed,  in  the  greatness  of  his 
strength,  to  seek  and  to  save  us. 

And  here  we  cannot  but  remark  how  fine  a 
harmony  there  is  between  the  law  of  sympathetic 
nature  in  heaven,  and  the  most  touching  exhibitions 
of  it  on  the  face  of  our  world.  When  one  of  a 
numerous  household  droops  under  the  power  of 
disease,  is  not  that  the  one  to  whom  all  the  tender- 
ness is  turned,  and  who,  in  a  manner,  monopolises 
the  inquiries  of  his  neighbourhood,  and  the  care  of 
his  family?  When  the  sighing  of  the  midnight 
storm  sends  a  dismal  foreboding  into  the  mother's 
heart,  to  whom  of  all  her  offspring,  we  would  ask, 
are  her  thoughts  and  her  anxieties  then  wandering? 
Is  it  not  to  her  sailor  boy  whom  her  fancy  has 
placed  amid  the  rude  and  angry  surges  of  the  ocean? 
Does  not  this,  the  hour  of  his  apprehended  danger, 
concentrate  upon  him  the  whole  force  of  her  wake- 
ful meditations  ?  And  does  not  he  engross,  for  a 
season,  her  every  sensibility,  and  her  every  prayer? 
We  sometimes  hear  of  shipwrecked  passengers 
thrown  upon  a  barbarous  shore ;  and  seized  upon 


IN  DISTANT  PLACES  OF  CREATION.  129 

by  its  prowling  inhabitants;  and  hurried  away 
through  the  tracks  of  a  dreary  and  unknown  wil- 
derness ;  and  sold  into  captivity ;  and  loaded  with 
the  fetters  of  irrecoverable  bondage ;  and  who, 
stripped  of  every  other  liberty  but  the  liberty  of 
thought,  feel  even  this  to  be  another  ingredient  of 
wretchedness,  for  what  can  they  think  of  but  home  ? 
and,  as  all  its  kind  and  tender  imagery  comes  upon 
their  remembrance,  how  can  they  think  of  it  but  in 
the  bitterness  of  despair  ?  Oh  tell  us,  when  the 
fame  of  all  this  disaster  reaches  his  family,  who  is 
the  member  of  it  to  whom  is  directed  the  full  tide 
of  its  griefs  and  of  its  sympathies  ?  Who  is  it  that, 
for  weeks  and  for  months,  usurps  their  every  feel- 
ing, and  calls  out  their  largest  sacrifices,  and  sets 
them  to  the  busiest  expedients  for  getting  him  back 
again  ?  Who  is  it  that  makes  them  forgetful  of 
themselves  and  of  all  around  them  ?  and  tell  us  if 
you  can  assign  a  limit  to  the  pains,  and  the  exer- 
tions, and  the  surrenders  which  afflicted  parents 
and  weeping  sisters  would  make  to  seek  and  to  save 
him? 

Now  conceive,  as  we  are  warranted  to  do  by 
the  parables  of  this  chapter,  the  principle  of  all 
these  earthly  exhibitions  to  be  in  full  operation 
around  the  throne  of  God.  Conceive  the  universe 
to  be  one  secure  and  rejoicing  family,  and  that  this 
alienated  world  is  the  only  strayed,  or  only  captive 
member  belonging  to  it;  and  we  shall  cease  to 
wonder,  that,  from  the  first  period  of  the  captivity 
of  our  species,  down  to  the  consummation  of  their 
history  in  time,  there  should  be  such  a  movement 
in  heaven ;  or  that  angels  should  so  often  have  sped 
f2 


130  SYMPATHY  FELT  FOR  MAN 

their  commisioned  way  on  the  errand  of  our  reco- 
very ;  or  that  the  Son  of  God  should  have  bowed 
Himself  down  to  the  burden  of  our  mysterious 
atonement;  or  that  the  Spirit  of  God  should  now, 
by  the  busy  variety  of  His  all-powerful  influences, 
be  carrying  forward  that  dispensation  of  grace  which 
is  to  make  us  meet  for  re-admittance  into  the  man- 
sions of  the  celestial.  Only  think  of  love  as  the 
reigning  principle  there ;  of  love,  as  sending  forth 
its  energies  and  aspirations  to  the  quarter  where 
its  object  is  most  in  danger  of  being  for  ever  lost 
to  it ;  of  love,  as  called  forth  by  this  single  circum- 
stance to  its  uttermost  exertion,  and  the  most 
exquisite  feeling  of  its  tenderness  ;  and  then  shall 
we  come  to  a  distinct  and  familiar  explanation  of 
this  whole  mystery :  nor  shall  we  resist,  by  our 
mcredulity,  the  gospel  message  any  longer,  though 
it  tells  us,  that  throughout  the  whole  of  this  world's 
history,  long  in  our  eyes,  but  only  a  little  month  in 
the  high  periods  of  immortality,  so  much  of  the 
vigilance,  and  so  much  of  the  earnestness  of  heaven, 
should  have  been  expended  on  the  recovery  of  its 
guilty  population. 

There  is  another  touching  trait  of  nature,  which 
goes  finely  to  heighten  this  principle,  and  still 
more  forcibly  to  demonstrate  its  application  to  our 
present  argument.  So  long  as  the  dying  child  of 
David  was  alive,  he  was  kept  on  the  stretch  of 
anxiety  and  of  suffering  with  regard  to  it.  When 
it  expired,  he  arose  and  comforted  himself.  This 
narrative  of  King  David  is  in  harmony  with  all  that 
we  experience  of  our  own  movements  and  our  own 
sensibilities.      It  is  the  power  of  uncertainty  which 


IN  DISTANT  PLACES  OF  CREATION.  131 

gives  them  so  active  and  so  interesting  a  play  in 
our  bosoms ;  and  which  heightens  all  our  regards 
to  a  tenfold  pitch  of  feeling  and  of  exercise ;  and 
which  fixes  down  our  watchfulness  upon  our  infant's 
dying  bed ;  and  which  keeps  us  so  painfully  alive  to 
every  turn  and  to  every  symptom  in  the  progress 
of  its  malady ;  and  which  draws  out  all  our  affections 
for  it  to  a  degree  of  intensity  that  is  quite  unutter- 
able ;  and  which  urges  us  on  to  ply  our  every  effort 
and  our  every  expedient,  till  hope  withdraw  its 
lingering  beam,  or  till  death  shut  the  eyes  of  our 
beloved  in  the  slumber  of  its  long  and  its  last  repose. 
We  know  not  who  of  you  have  your  names  written 
in  the  book  of  life — nor  can  we  tell  if  this  be  known 
to  the  angels  which  are  in  heaven.  While  in  the 
land  of  living  men,  you  are  under  the  power  and 
application  of  a  remedy,  which,  if  taken  as  the 
Gospel  prescribes,  will  renovate  the  soul,  and 
altogether  prepare  it  for  the  bloom  and  the  vigour 
of  immortality.  Wonder  not  then,  that  with  this 
principle  of  uncertainty  in-  such  full  operation, 
ministers  should  feel  for  you ;  or  angels  should  feel 
for  you ;  or  all  the  sensibiUties  of  heaven  should  be 
awake  upon  the  symptoms  of  your  grace  and 
reformation ;  or  the  eyes  of  those  who  stand  upon 
the  high  eminences  of  the  celestial  world,  should 
be  so  earnestly  fixed  on  every  footstep  and  new 
evolution  of  your  moral  history.  Such  a  con- 
sideration as  this  should  do  something  more  than 
silence  the  infidel  objection.  It  should  give  a 
practical  eifect  to  the  calls  of  repentance.  How 
will  it  go  to  aggravate  the  whole  guilt  of  our 
impenitency,  should  we  stand  out  against  the  power 


132  SYMPATHY  FELT  FOR  MAN,  &C. 

and  the  tenderness  of  these  manifold  appUcations 
— the  voice  of  a  beseeching  God  upon  us — the 
word  of  salvation  at  our  very  door — the  free  offer 
of  strength  and  of  acceptance  sounded  in  our  hearing 
— the  Spirit  in  readiness  with  His  agency  to  meet 
our  every  desire  and  our  every  inquiry — angels 
beckoning  us  to  their  company — and  the  very  first 
movements  of  our  awakened  conscience,  drawing 
upon  us  all  their  regards  and  all  their  earnestness  ! 


CONTEST  FOR  ASCENDANCY  OVER  MAN,  &C.       133 


DISCOURSE  VI. 

ON  THE  CONTEST  FOR  AN  ASCENDANCY 

OVER  MAN,  AMONGST  THE  HIGHER  ORDERS 

OF  INTELLIGENCE. 


«*  And,  having  spoiled  principalities  and  powers,  he  made  a  show 
of  them  openly,  triumphing  over  them  in  it."— Colossians 
ii.  15. 

Though  these  Discourses  be  now  drawing  to  a 
close,  it  is  not  because  we  feel  that  much  more 
might  not  be  said  on  the  subject  of  them,  both  in 
the  way  of  argument  and  of  illustration.  The 
whole  of  the  inlfidel  difficulty  proceeds  upon  the  as- 
sumption, that  the  exclusive  bearing  of  Christianity 
is  upon  the  people  of  our  earth ;  that  this  soHtary 
planet  is  in  no  way  implicated  with  the  concerns  of 
a  wider  dispensation  ;  that  the  revelation  we  have 
of  the  dealings  of  God  in  this  district  of  His  empire, 
does  not  suit  and  subordinate  itself  to  a  system  of 
moral  administration,  as  extended  as  is  the  whole 
of  his  monarchy.  Or,  in  other  words,  because 
Infidels  have  not  access  to  the  whole  truth,  do  they 
refuse  a  part  of  it,  however  well  attested  or  well 
accredited  it  may  be ;  because  a  mantle  of  deep 
obscurity  rests  on  the  government  of  God,  when 
taken  in  all  its  eternity  and  all  its  entireness,  do  tiiey 
shut  their  eyes  against  that  allowance  of  light  which 
has  been  made  to  pass  downwards  upon  our  world 


134       CONTEST  FOR  ASCENDANCY   OVKll  M.\N, 

from  time  to  time,  through  so  many  partial  unfold - 
ings;  and  till  they  are  made  to  know  the  share 
which  other  planets  have  in  these  communications 
of  mercy,  do  they  turn  them  away  from  the  actual 
message  which  has  come  to  their  own  door,  and  will 
neither  examine  its  credentials,  nor  be  alarmed  by 
its  warnings,  nor  be  won  by  the  tenderness*  of  its 
invitations. 

On  that  day  when  the  secrets  of  all  hearts  shall 
be  revealed,  there  will  be  found  such  a  wilful  dupli- 
city and  darkening  of  the  mind  in  the  whole  of  this 
proceeding,  as  shall  bring  down  upon  it  the  burden 
of  a  righteous  condemnation.  Bat  even  now  does 
it  lie  open  to  the  rebuke  of  philosophy,  when  the 
soundness  and  the  consistency  of  her  principles  are 
brought  faithfully  to  bear  upon  it.  Were  the  char- 
acter of  modern  science  rightly  understood,  it  would 
be  seen,  that  the  very  thing  which  gave  such  strength 
and  sureness  to  all  her  conclusions,  was  that  humi- 
lity of  spirit  which  belonged  to  her.  She  promul- 
gates all  that  is  positively  known;  but  she  maintains 
the  strictest  silence  and  modesty  about  all  that  is 
unknown.  She  thankfully  accepts  of  evidence 
wherever  it  can  be  found  ;  nor  does  she  spurn  away 
from  her  the  very  humblest  contribution  of  such 
doctrine,  as  can  be  witnessed  by  human  observation, 
or  can  be  attested  by  human  veracity.  But  with 
all  this  she  can  hold  out  most  sternly  against  that 
power  of  eloquence  and  fancy,  which  often  throws 
so  bewitching  a  charm  over  the  plausibilities  of 
ingenious  speculation.  Truth  is  the  alone  object 
of  her  reverence  ;  and  did  she  at  all  times  keep  by 
her  attachments,  nor  throw  them  away  when  theo- 


AMONG  THE  HIGHER  INTELLIGENCES.        135 

logy  submitted  to  her  cognizance  its  demonstrations 
and  its  claims,  we  should  not  despair  of  witnessing 
as  great  a  revolution  in  those  prevailing  habitudes 
of  thought  which  obtain  throughout  our  Hterary 
estabUshments,  on  the  subject  of  Christianity,  as 
that  which  has  actually  taken  place  in  the  views 
which  obtain  on  the  philosophy  of  external  nature. 
This  is  the  first  field  on  which  have  been  success- 
fully practised  the  experimental  lessons  of  Bacon ; 
and  they  who  are  conversant  with  these  matters, 
know  how  great  and  how  general  a  uniformity  of 
doctrine  now  prevails  in  the  sciences  of  astronomy, 
and  mechanics,  and  chemistry,  and  almost  all  the 
other  departments  in  the  history  and  philosophy  of 
matter.  But  this  uniformity  stands  strikingly  con- 
trasted with  the  diversity  of  our  moral  systems, 
with  the  restless  fluctuations  both  of  lanfj^uaoe  and 
of  sentiment  which  are  taking  place  in  the  philosophy 
of  mind,  with  the  palpable  fact,  that  every  new 
course  of  instruction  upon  this  subject,  has  some 
new  articles,  or  some  new  explanations  to  peculiarize 
it :  and  all  this  is  to  be  attributed,  not  to  the  pro- 
gress of  the  science,  not  to  a  growing,  but  to  an 
alternating  movement,  not  to  its  perpetual  addi- 
tions, but  to  its  perpetual  vibrations. 

We  mean  not  to  assert  the  futility  of  moral 
science,  or  to  deny  her  importance,  or  to  insist  on 
the  utter  hopelessness  of  her  advancement.  The 
Baconian  method  will  not  probably  push  forward 
her  discoveries  with  such  a  rapidity,  or  to  such  an 
extent,  as  many  of  her  sanguine  disciples  have 
anticipated.  But  if  the  spirit  and  the  maxims  of 
this  philosophy  were  at  all  times  proceeded  upon. 


13G         CONTEST  FOR  ASCENDANCY  OVER  MAK. 

it  would  certainly  check  that  rashness  and  variety 
of  excogitation,  in  virtue  of  which  it  may  almost  be 
said,  that  every  new  course  presents  us  with  a  new 
system,  and  that  every  new  teacher  has  some 
singularity  or  other  to  characterize  him.  She  may 
be  able  to  make  out  an  exact  transcript  of  the  phe- 
nomena of  mind,  and  in  so  doing,  she  yields  a  most 
important  contribution  to  the  stock  of  human 
acquirements.  But,  when  she  attempts  to  grope 
her  darkling  way  through  the  counsels  of  the  Deity, 
and  the  futurities  of  His  administration ;  when, 
without  one  passing  acknowledgment  to  the  embassy 
which  professes  to  have  come  from  him,  or  to  the 
facts  and  to  the  testimonies  by  which  it  has  so 
illustriously  been  vindicated,  she  launches  forth  her 
own  speculations  on  the  character  of  God,  and  the 
destiny  of  man  ;  when,  though  this  be  a  subject  on 
which  neither  the  recollections  of  history,  nor  the 
ephemeral  experience  of  any  single  life,  can  furnish 
one  observation  to  enlighten  her,  she  will  never- 
theless utter  her  own  plausibilities,  not  merely  with 
a  contemptuous  neglect  of  the  Bible,  but  in  direct 
opposition  to  it ;  then  it  is  high  time  to  remind  her 
of  the  difference  between  the  reverie  of  him  who 
has  not  seen  God,  and  the  well-accredited  declara- 
tion of  him  who  was  in  the  beginning  with  God,  and 
was  God;  and  to  tell  her,  that  this,  so  far  from 
being  the  argument  of  an  ignoble  fanaticism,  is  in 
harmony  with  the  very  argument  upon  which  the 
science  of  experiment  has  been  reared,  and  by  which 
it  has  been  at  length  delivered  from  the  influence 
of  theory,  and  purified  of  all  its  vain  and  visionary 
splendours. 


AMONG  THE  HIGHER  INTELLIGENCES.       137 

In  our  last  Discourses,  we  have  attempted  to 
collect,  from  the  records  of  God's  actual  communi- 
cation to  the  world,  such  traces  of  relationship 
between  other  orders  of  being  and  the  great  family 
of  mankind,  as  serve  to  prove  that  Christianity  is 
not  so  paltry  and  provincial  a  system  as  Infidelity 
presumes  it  to  be.  And  as  we  said  before,  we 
have  not  exhausted  all  that  may  legitimately  be 
derived  upon  this  subject  from  the  informations  of 
Scripture.  We  have  adverted,  it  is  true,  to  the 
knowledge  of  our  moral  history  which  obtains 
throughout  other  provinces  of  the  intelligent  crea- 
tion. We  have  asserted  the  universal  importance 
which  this  may  confer  on  the  transactions  even  of 
one  planet,  in  as  much  as  it  may  spread  an  honour- 
able display  of  the  Godhead  amongst  all  the  man- 
sions of  infinity.  We  have  attempted  to  expatiate 
on  the  argument,  that  an  event  little  in  itself,  may 
be  so  pregnant  with  character,  as  to  furnish  all  the 
worshippers  of  heaven  with  a  theme  of  praise  for 
eternity.  We  have  stated  that  nothing  is  of  mag- 
nitude in  their  eyes,  but  that  which  serves  to  endear 
to  them  the  Father  of  their  spirits,  or  to  shed  a 
lustre  over  the  glory  of  His  incomprehensible 
attributes — and  that  thus,  from  the  redemption  even 
of  our  solitary  species,  there  may  go  forth  such  an 
exhibition  of  the  Deity,  as  shall  bear  the  triumphs 
of  His  name  to  the  very  outskirts  of  the  universe. 

We  have  farther  adverted  to  another  distinct 
Scriptural  intimation,  that  the  state  of  fallen  man 
was  not  only  matter  of  knowledge  to  other  orders 
of  creation,  but  was  also  matter  of  deep  regret  and 
alTectiunate  sympathy ;  that  agreeably  to  such  laws 


138      CONTEST  FOR  ASCENDANCY  OVER  MAN, 

of  sympathy  as  are  most  familiar  even  to  human 
observation,  the  very  wretchedness  of  our  condition 
was  fitted  to  concentrate  upon  us  the  feeUngs,  and 
the  attentions,  and  the  services  of  the  celestial — to 
single  us  out  for  a  time  to  the  gaze  of  their  most 
earnest  and  unceasing  contem.plation — to  draw  forth 
all  that  was  kind  and  all  that  was  tender  within 
them — and  just  in  proportion  to  the  need  and  to  the 
helplessness  of  us  miserable  exiles  from  the  family 
of  God,  to  multiply  upon  us  the  regards,  and  call 
out  in  our  behalf  the  fond  and  eager  exertions  of 
those  who  had  never  wandered  away  from  Him. 
This  appears  from  the  Bible  to  be  the  style  of  that 
benevolence  which  glows  and  which  circulates 
around  the  throne  of  heaven.  It  is  the  very  bene- 
volence which  emanates  from  the  throne  itself,  and 
the  attentions  of  which  have  for  so  many  thousand 
years  signahzed  the  inhabitants  of  our  world.  This 
may  look  a  long  period  for  so  paltry  a  w^orld. 
But  how  have  Infidels  come  to  their  conception 
that  our  world  is  so  paltry  ?  By  looking  abroad 
over  the  countless  systems  of  immensity.  But  why 
then  have  they  missed  the  conception,  that  the  time 
of  those  pecuhar  visitations,  which  they  look  upon 
as  so  disproportionate  to  the  magnitude  of  this 
earth,  is  just  as  evanescent  as  the  earth  itself  is 
insignificant  ?  Why  look  they  not  abroad  on  the 
countless  generations  of  eternity;  and  thus  come 
back  to  the  conclusion,  that  after  all,  the  redemption 
of  our  species  is  but  an  ephemeral  doing  in  the 
history  of  intelligent  nature ;  that  it  leaves  the 
Author  of  it  room  for  all  the  accomplishments  of  a 
wise  and  equal  administration ;  and  not  to  mention, 


AMONG  THE  HIGHER  INTELLIGENCES.         139 

that  even  during  the  progress  of  it,  it  withdraws  not 
a  single  thought  or  a  single  energy  of  His,  from 
other  fields  of  creation,   that  there    remains  time 
enough  to  Him  for  carrying  round  the  visitations  of 
as  striking  and  as  peculiar  a  tenderness,  over  the 
whole  extent  of  His  great  and  universal  monarchy  ? 
It  might  serve  still  farther  to  incorporate  the 
concerns  of  our  planet  with  the  general  history  of 
moral  and  intelligent  beings,  to  state,  not  merely 
the  knowledge  which  they  take  of  us,  and  not  merely 
the  compassionate  anxiety  which  they  feel  for  us ; 
but  to  state  the  importance  derived  to  our  world 
from  its  being  the  actual  theatre  of  a  keen  and 
ambitious  contest  amongst  the  upper  orders  of  crea- 
tion.     You  know  that  fbr  the  possession  of  a  very 
small  and  insulated  territory,  the  mightiest  empires 
of  the  world  have  put  forth  all    their  resources; 
and  on  some  field  of  mustering  competition,  have 
monarchs  met,  and  embarked  for  victory,  all  the 
pride  of  a  country's  rank,  and  all  the  flower  and 
strength  of  a  country's  population.      The  solitary 
island  around  which  so  many  fleets  are  hovering, 
and  on  the  shores  of  which  so  many  armed  men  are 
descending  as  to  an  arena  of  hostility,  may  well 
wonder  at  its  own  unlooked-for  estimation.      But 
other  principles  are  animating  the  battle ;  and  the 
glory  of  nations  is  at  stake;  and  a  much  higher 
result  is  in  the  contemplation  of  each  party,  than 
the  gain  of  so  humble  an  acquirement  as  the  primary 
object  of  the  war ;  and  honour,  dearer  to  many  a 
bosom  than  existence,  is  now  the  interest  on  which 
so  much  blood  and  so  much  treasure  is  expended; 
and  the  stirring  spirit  of  emulation  has  now  got 


140      CONTEST  FOR  ASCENDANCY  OVER  MAN, 

bold  of  the  combatants;  and  thus,  amid  all  the 
insignificancy  which  attaches  to  the  material  origin 
of  the  contest,  do  both  the  eagerness  and  the  extent 
of  it,  receive  from  the  constitution  of  our  nature, 
their  most  full  and  adequate  explanation. 

Now,  if  this  be  also  the  principle  of  higher  natures 
— if,  on  the  one  hand,  God  be  jealous  of  his  honour ; 
and,  on  the  other,  there  be  proud  and  exalted  spirits 
who  scowl  defiance  at  Him  and  at  His  monarchy 
— if,  on  the  side  of  heaven,  there  be  an  angeUc  host 
rallying  around  the  standard  of  loyalty,  who  flee  with 
alacrity  at  the  bidding  of  the  Almighty,  who  are 
devoted  to  His  glory,  and  feel  a  rejoicing  interest 
in  the  evolution  of  His  counsels ;  and  if,  on  the  side 
of  hell,  there  be  a  sullen  front  of  resistance,  a  hate 
and  mahce  inextinguishable,  an  unquelled  daring  of 
revenge  to  baffle  the  wisdom  of  the  Eternal,  and  to 
arrest  the  hand,  and  to  defeat  the  purposes  of  Omni- 
potence— then  let  the  material  prize  of  victory  be 
insignificant  as  it  may,  it  is  the  victory  in  itself  which 
upholds  the  impulse  of  this  keen  and  stimulated 
rivalry.  If,  by  the  sagacity  of  one  infernal  mind, 
a  single  planet  has  been  seduced  from  its  allegiance, 
and  been  brought  under  the  ascendancy  of  him  who 
is  called  in  Scripture,  "the  god  of  this  world;" 
and  if  the  errand  on  which  our  Redeemer  came, 
was  to  destroy  the  works  of  the  devil — then  let  this 
planet  have  all  the  littleness  which  astronomy  has 
assigned  to  it — call  it  what  it  is,  one  of  the  smaller 
islets  which  float  on  the  ocean  of  vacancy  ;  it  has 
become  the  theatre  of  such  a  competition,  as  may 
have  all  the  desires  and  all  the  energies  of  a  divided 
universe  em])arked  upon  it.      It  involves  in  it  other 


AMONG  THE  HIGHER  INTELLIGENCES.       141 

objects  than  the  single  recovery  of  our  species.  It 
decides  higher  questions.  It  stands  hnked  with 
the  supremacy  of  God,  and  will  at  length  demon- 
strate the  way  in  which  He  inflicts  chastisement 
and  overthrow  upon  all  His  enemies.  We  know 
not  if  our  rebellious  world  be  the  only  stronghold 
which  Satan  is  possessed  of,  or  if  it  be  but  the  single 
post  of  an  extended  warfare,  that  is  now  going  on 
between  the  powers  of  light  and  of  darkness.  But 
be  it  the  one  or  the  other,  the  parties  are  in  array, 
and  the  spirit  of  the  contest  is  in  full  energy,  and 
the  honour  of  mighty  combatants  is  at  stake ;  and 
let  us  therefore  cease  to  wonder  that  our  humble 
residence  has  been  made  the  theatre  of  so  busy  an 
operation,  or  that  the  ambition  of  loftier  natures  has 
here  put  forth  all  its  desire  and  all  its  strenuousness. 
This  unfolds  to  us  another  of  those  high  and 
extensive  bearings,  which  the  moral  history  of  our 
globe  may  have  on  the  system  of  God's  universal 
administration.  Were  an  enemy  to  touch  the  shore 
of  this  high-minded  country,  and  to  occupy  so  much 
as  one  of  the  humblest  of  its  villages,  and  there  to 
seduce  the  natives  from  their  loyalty,  and  to  sit 
down  along  with  them  in  entrenched  defiance  to  all 
the  threats,  and  to  all  the  preparations  of  an  in- 
sulted empire — how  would  the  cry  of  wounded  pride 
resound  throughout  all  the  ranks  and  varieties  of 
our  mighty  population  ;  and  this  very  movement  of 
indignancy  would  reach  the  king  upon  his  throne ; 
and  circulate  among  those  who  stood  in  all  the 
grandeur  of  chieftainship  around  him  ;  and  be  heard 
to  thrill  in  the  eloquence  of  parliament ;  and  spread 
SO  resistless  an  appeal  to  a  nation's  honour,  and  a 


'ii2       CONTEST  FOR  ASCENDAXCY  OVER  MAN", 

nation's  patriotism,  that  the  trumpet  of  war  would 
summon  to  its  call  all  the  spirit  and  all  the  willing 
energies  of  our  kingdom ;  and  rather  than  sit  down 
m  patient  endurance  under  the  burning  disgrace  of 
such  a  violation,  would  the  whole  of  its  strength 
and  resources  be  embarked  upon  the  contest ;  and 
never,  never  would  we  let  down  our  exertions  and 
our  sacrifices,  till  either  our  deluded  countrymen 
were  reclaimed,  or  till  the  whole  of  this  offence 
were,  by  one  righteous  act  of  vengeance,  swept 
away  altogether  from  the  face  of  the  territory  it 
deformed. 

The  Bible  is  always  most  full  and  most  explan- 
atory on  those  points  of  revelation  in  which  men 
are  personally  interested.  But  it  does  at  times 
offer  a  dim  transparency,  through  which  may  be 
caught  a  partial  view  of  such  designs  and  of  such 
enterprises  as  are  now  afloat  among  the  upper 
orders  of  intellio^ence.  It  tells  us  of  a  misrhtv 
struggle  that  is  now  going  on  for  a  moral  ascend- 
ancy over  the  hearts  of  this  world's  population.  It 
tells  us  that  our  race  were  seduced  from  their  al- 
legiance to  God,  by  the  plotting  sagacity  of  one 
who  stands  pre-eminent  against  Him,  among  the 
hosts  of  a  very  wide  and  extended  rebellion.  It 
tells  us  of  the  Captain  of  salvation,  who  undertook 
to  spoil  him  of  this  triumph  ;  and  throughout  the 
whole  of  that  magnificent  train  of  prophecy  which 
points  to  Him,  does  it  describe  the  work  he  had  to 
do,  as  a  conflict,  in  which  strength  was  to  be  put 
forth,  and  painful  suffering  to  be  endured,  and  fury 
to  be  poured  upon  enemies,  and  principalities  to  be 
dethroned,  and  all  those  toils,  and   dangers,  and 


AMONG  THE  HIGHER  INTELLIGENCES.       143 

difficulties  to  be  borne,  which  strewed  the  path  of 
perseverance  that  was  to  carry  him  to  victory. 

But  it  is  a  contest  of  skill,  as  well  as  of  strength 
and  of  influence.  There  is  the  earnest  competi- 
tion of  angelic  faculties  embarked  on  this  struggle 
for  ascendancy.  And  while  in  the  Bible  there  is 
recorded,  (faintly  and  partially,  we  admit,)  the  deep 
and  insidious  policy  that  is  practised  on  the  one 
side ;  we  are  also  told,  that,  on  the  plan  of  our 
world's  restoration,  there  are  lavished  all  the  riches 
of  an  unsearchable  wisdom  upon  the  other.  It 
would  appear  that,  for  the  accomplishment  of  his 
purpose,  the  great  enemy  of  God  and  of  man  plied 
his  every  calculation;  and  brought  all  the  devices 
of  his  deep  and  settled  malignity  to  bear  upon  our 
species  ;  and  thought,  that  could  he  involve  us  in 
sin,  every  attribute  of  the  Divinity  stood  staked  to 
the  banishment  of  our  race  from  beyond  the  limits 
of  the  empire  of  righteousness ;  and,  thus  did  he 
practise  his  invasions  on  the  moral  territory  of  the 
unfallen ;  and,  glorying  in  his  success,  did  he 
fancy  and  feel  that  he  had  achieved  a  permanent 
separation  between  the  God  who  sitteth  in  heaven, 
and  one  at  least  of  the  planetary  mansions  which 
He  had  reared. 

The  errand  of  the  Saviour  was  to  restore  this 
sinful  world,  and  have  its  people  re-admitted  within 
the  circle  of  heaven's  pure  and  righteous  family. 
But  in  the  government  of  heaven,  as  well  as  in  the 
government  of  earth,  there  are  certain  principles 
which  cannot  be  compromised ;  and  certain  maxims 
of  administration  which  must  never  be  departed 
from  :    ynd  a  certain  character  of  majest}^  and  of 


144      CONTEST  FOR  ASCENDANCY  OVER  MAN, 

truth,  on  which  the  taint  even  of  the  shghtest  viola- 
tion can  never  be  permitted;  and  a  certain  authority 
which  must  be  upheld  by  the  immutabihty  of  all  its 
sanctions,  and  the  unerring  fulfilment  of  all  its  wise 
and  righteous  proclamations.  All  this  was  in  the 
mind  of  the  archangel,  and  a  gleam  of  malignant 
joy  shot  athwart  him,  as  he  conceived  his  project 
for  hemming  our  unfortunate  species  within  the 
bound  of  an  irrecoverable  dilemma ;  and  as  surely 
as  sin  and  holiness  could  not  enter  into  fellowship, 
so  surely  did  he  think,  that  if  man  were  seduced  to 
disobedience,  would  the  truth,  and  the  justice,  and 
the  immutability  of  God,  lay  their  insurmountable 
barriers  on  the  path  of  his  future  acceptance. 

It  was  only  in  that  plan  of  recovery  of  which 
Jesus  Christ  was  the  author  and  the  finisher,  that 
the  great  adversary  of  our  species  met  with  a  wisdom 
which  overmatched  him.  It  is  true,  that  he  had 
reared,  in  the  guilt  to  which  he  seduced  us,  a  mighty 
obstacle  in  the  w^ay  of  this  lofty  undertaking.  But 
w^hen  the  grand  expedient  was  announced,  and  the 
blood  of  that  atonement,  by  which  sinners  are 
brought  nigh,  was  willingly  offered  to  be  shed  for 
us  ;  and  the  eternal  Son,  to  carry  this  mystery  into 
accomplishment,  assumed  our  nature — then  was  the 
prince  of  that  mighty  rebellion,  in  which  the  fate 
and  the  history  of  our  world  are  so  deeply  impli- 
cated, in  visible  alarm  for  the  safety  of  all  his  ac- 
quisitions : — nor  can  the  record  of  this  wondrous 
history  carry  forward  its  narrative,  without  furnish- 
mg  some  transient  glimpses  of  a  sublime  and  a 
superior  warfare,  in  which,  for  the  prize  of  a 
spiritual  dominion  over  our  species,  we  may  dimly 


AMONG  THE  HIGHER  INTELLIGENCES.        145 

perceive  the  contest  of  loftiest  talent,  and  all  the 
designs  of  heaven  in  behalf  of  man,  met  at  every 
point  of  their  evolution,  by  the  counterworkingsof 
a  rival  strength  and  a  rival  sagacity. 

We  there  read  of  a  struggle  which  the  Captain 
of  our  salvation  had  to  sustain,  when  the  lustre  of 
the  Godhead  lay  obscured,  and  the  strength  of  its 
omnipotence  was  mysteriously  weighed  down  under 
the  infirmities  of  our  nature — how  Satan  shigled 
Him  out,  and  dared  Him  to  the  combat  of  the 
wilderness — how  all  his  wiles  and  all  his  influences 
were  resisted — how  he  left  our  Saviour  in  all  the 
triumphs  of  unsubdued  loyalty — how  the  progress 
of  this  mighty  achievement  is  marked  by  every 
character  of  a  conflict — how  many  of  the  gospel 
miracles  were  so  many  direct  infringements  on  the 
power  and  empire  of  a  great  spiritual  rebellion — 
how,  in  one  precious  season  of  gladness  among  the 
few  which  brightened  the  dark  career  of  our  Saviour's 
humiliation.  He  rejoiced  in  spirit,  and  gave  as  the 
cause  of  it  to  his  disciples,  that  "  he  saw  Satan  fall 
like  lightning  from  heaven" — how  the  momentary  ad- 
vantages that  were  gotten  over  Him,  are  ascribed 
to  the  agency  of  this  infernal  being,  who  entered 
the  heart  of  Judas,  and  tempted  the  disciple  to 
betray  His  Master  and  His  Friend.  We  know 
that  we  are  treading  on  the  confines  of  mystery. 
We  cannot  tell  what  the  battle  that  he  fought. 
We  cannot  compute  the  terror  or  the  strength  of 
his  enemies.  We  cannot  say,  for  we  have  not  been 
told,  how  it  was  that  they  stood  in  marshalled  and 
hideous  array  against  Him  : — nor  can  we  measure 
how  great  the  firm  daring  of  His  soul,  when  He 

VOL.  VII.  G 


146      CONTEST  FOR  ASCENDANCY  OVER  MAN, 

tasted  that  cup  in  all  its  bitterness,  which  he  pray- 
ed might  pass  away  from  Him ;  when,  with  the 
feeling  that  He  was  forsaken  by  His  God,  He  trod 
the  wine-press  alone ;  when  He  entered  single- 
handed  upon  that  dreary  period  of  agony,  and  in- 
sult, and  death,  in  which,  from  the  garden  to  the 
cross,  He  had  to  bear  the  burden  of  a  world's  atone- 
ment. We  cannot  speak  in  our  own  language, 
but  we  can  say,  in  the  language  of  the  Bible,  of  the 
days  and  the  nights  of  this  great  enterprise,  that  it 
was  the  season  of  the  travail  of  His  soul ;  that  it 
was  the  hoar  and  the  power  of  darkness  ;  that  the 
work  of  our  redemption,  was  a  work  accompanied 
by  the  effort,  and  the  violence,  and  the  fury  of  a 
combat ;  by  all  the  arduousness  of  a  battle  in  its 
progress,  and  all  the  glories  of  a  victory  in  its  ter- 
mination :  and  after  He  called  out  that  it  was 
finished,  after  He  was  loosed  from  the  prison-house 
of  the  grave,  after  He  had  ascended  up  on  high.  He 
is  said  to  have  made  captivity  captive ;  and  to  have 
spoiled  principalities  and  powers  ;  and  to  have  seen 
His  pleasure  upon  His  enemies  ;  and  to  have  made 
a  show  of  them  openly. 

^Ve  shall  not  affect  a  wisdom  above  that  which 
is  written,  by  fancying  such  details  of  this  warfare 
as  the  Bible  has  not  laid  before  us.  But  surely  it  is 
no  more  than  being  wise  up  to  that  which  is  written, 
to  assert,  that  in  achieving  the  redemption  of  our 
world,  a  warfare  had  to  be  accomplished ;  that 
upon  this  subject  there  was,  among  the  higher 
provinces  of  creation,  the  keen  and  the  animated 
conflict  of  opposing  interests  ;  that  the  result  of  it 
involved  something  grander  and  more  affectiuj?, 


AMONG  THE  HIGHER  INTELLIGENCES.       147 

than  even  the  fate  of  this  world's  population  ;  that 
it  decided  a  question  of  rivalship  between  the 
righteous  and  everlasting  Monarch  of  universal 
being,  and  the  prince  of  a  great  and  widely-extended 
rebellion,  of  which  we  neither  know  how  vast  is  the 
magnitude,  nor  how  important  and  diversified  are 
the  bearings  :  and  thus  do  we  gather,  from  this  con- 
sideration, another  distinct  argument,  helping  us  to 
explain  why,  on  the  salvation  of  our  solitary  species, 
so  much  attention  appears  to  have  been  concentrated, 
and  so  much  energy  appears  to  have  been  expended. 
But  it  would  appear  from  the  Records  of  In- 
spiration, that  the  contest  is  not  yet  ended ;  that 
on  the  one  hand  the  Spirit  of  God  is  employed  in 
making,  for  the  truths  of  Christianity,  a  way  into 
the  human  heart,  with  all  the  power  of  an  effectual 
demonstration ;  that  on  the  other,  there  is  a  spirit 
now  abroad,  which  worketh  in  the  children  of  dis- 
obedience :  that  on  the  one  hand,  the  Holy  Ghost 
is  calUng  men  out  of  darkness  into  the  marvellous 
light  of  the  Gospel ;  and  that  on  the  other  hand,  he 
who  is  styled  the  god  of  this  world,  is  blinding  their 
hearts,  lest  the  light  of  the  glorious  Gospel  of 
Christ  should  enter  into  them  :  that  they  who  are 
under  the  dominion  of  the  one,  are  said  to  have 
overcome,  because  greater  is  He  that  is  in  them 
than  he  that  is  in  the  world ;  and  that  they  who  are 
under  the  dominion  of  the  other,  are  said  to  be  the 
children  of  the  devil,  and  to  be  under  a  snare,  and 
to  be  taken  captive  by  him  at  his  will.  How  these 
respective  powers  do  operate,  is  one  question.  The 
fact  of  their  operation,  is  another.  We  abstain 
from  the  former.     We  attach  ourselves  to  the  lat« 


148      CONTEST  FOn  ASCENDANCY  OVER  MAN, 

ter,  and  gather  from  it,  that  the  prince  of  darkness 
still  walketh  abroad  amongst  us ;  that  he  is  still 
working  his  insidious  pohcy,  if  not  with  the  vigor- 
ous inspiration  of  hope,  at  least  with  the  frantic 
energies  of  despair ;  that  while  the  overtures  of 
reconciUation  are  made  to  circulate  through  the 
world,  he  is  plying  all  his  devices  to  deafen  and  to 
extinguish  the  impression  of  them  ;  or,  in  other 
words,  while  a  process  of  invitation  and  of  argument 
has  emanated  from  heaven,  for  reclaiming  men  to 
their  loyalty — the  process  is  resisted  at  all  its  points, 
by  one  who  is  putting  forth  his  every  expedient, 
and  wielding  a  mysterious  ascendancy,  to  seduce 
and  to  enthrall  them. 

To  an  infidel  ear,  all  this  carries  the  sound  of 
something  wild  and  visionary  along  with  it.  But 
though  only  known  through  the  medium  of  revel- 
ation ;  after  it  is  known,  who  can  fail  to  recognize 
its  harmony  with  the  great  lineaments  of  human 
experience  ?  Who  has  not  felt  the  workings  of  a 
rivalry  within  him,  between  the  power  of  conscience 
and  the  power  of  temptation  ?  Who  does  not  remem- 
ber those  seasons  of  retirement,  when  the  calcula- 
tions of  eternity  had  gotten  a  momentary  command 
over  the  heart;  and  time,  with  all  its  interests 
and  all  its  vexations,  had  dwindled  into  insignifi- 
cancy before  them?  And  who  does  not  remember, 
how,  upon  his  actual  engagement  with  the  objects  of 
time,  they  resumed  a  control,  as  great  and  as  omni- 
potent, as  if  all  the  importance  of  eternity  adhered 
to  them — how  they  emitted  from  them  such  an  im- 
pression upon  his  feelings,  as  to  fix  and  to  fascinate 
the  whole  man  into  a  subsorviencv  to  their  influence 


AMONG  THE  HIGHER  INTELLIGENCES,       149 

— how,  in  spite  of  every  lesson  of  their  worthless- 
ness,  brought  home  to  him  at  every  turn  by  the 
rapidity  of  the  seasons,  and  the  vicissitudes  of  hfe, 
and  the  ever-movhig  progress  of  his  own  earthly 
career,  and  the  visible  ravages  of  death  among  his 
acquaintances  around  him,  and  the  desolations  of 
his  family,  and  the  constant  breaking  up  of  his 
system  of  friendships,  and  the  affecting  spectacle 
of  all  that  lives  and  is  in  motion,  withering  and 
hastening  to  the  grave  ; — how  comes  it,  that,  in  the 
face  of  all  this  experience,  the  whole  elevation  of 
purpose,  conceived  in  the  hour  of  his  better  un- 
derstanding, should  be  dissipated  and  forgotten? 
Whence  the  might,  and  whence  the  mystery  of 
that  spell,  which  so  binds  and  so  infatuates  us  to 
the  world  ?  What  prompts  us  so  to  embark  the 
whole  strength  of  our  eagerness  and  of  our  desires, 
in  pursuit  of  interests  which  we  know  a  few  little 
years  will  bring  to  utter  annihilation  ?  Who  is  it 
that  imparts  to  them  all  the  charm  and  all  the 
colour  of  an  unfailing  durability  ?  Who  is  it  that 
throws  such  an  air  of  stability  over  these  earthly 
tabernacles,  as  makes  them  look  to  the  fascinated 
eye  of  man,  like  resting-places  for  eternity  ?  Who 
is  it  that  so  pictures  out  the  objects  of  sense,  and 
so  magnifies  the  range  of  their  future  enjoyment, 
and  so  dazzles  the  fond  and  deceived  imagination, 
that,  in  looking  onward  through  our  earthly  career, 
it  appears  like  the  vista,  or  the  perspective,  of  in- 
numerable ages  ?  He  who  is  called  the  god  of  this 
world.  He  who  can  dress  the  idleness  of  its  wak- 
ing dreams  in  the  garb  of  reality.  He  who  can 
pour  a  seducing  brilhancy  over  the  panorama  of  its 


150       CONTEST  FOR  ASCENDANCY  OVEIl  MAN, 

fleeting  pleasures  and  its  vain  anticipations.  He 
who  can  turn  it  into  an  instrument  of  deceitfulness  ; 
and  make  it  wield  such  an  absolute  ascendancy  over 
all  the  affections,  that  man,  become  the  poor  slave 
of  its  idolatries  and  its  charms,  puts  the  authority 
of  conscience  and  the  warnings  of  the  Word  of  God, 
and  the  offered  instigations  of  the  Spirit  of  God, 
and  all  the  lessons  of  calculation,  and  all  the  wis- 
dom even  of  his  own  sound  and  sober  experience, 
away  from  him. 

But  this  wondrous  contest  will  come  to  a  close. 
Some  will  return  to  their  loyalty,  and  others  will 
keep  by  their  rebellion  ;  and,  in  the  day  of  the 
winding  up  of  the  drama  of  this  world's  history, 
tiiere  will  be  made  manifest  to  the  myriads  of  the 
various  orders  of  creation,  both  the  mercy  and 
vindicated  majesty  of  the  Eternal.  On  that  day, 
how  vain  will  this  presumption  of  the  infidel  as- 
tronomy appear,  when  the  affairs  of  men  come  to 
be  examined  in  the  presence  of  an  innumerable 
company  ;  and  beings  of  loftiest  nature  are  seen  to 
crowd  around  the  judgment-seat ;  and  the  Saviour 
shall  appear  in  our  sky,  with  a  celestial  retinue,  who 
have  come  with  him  from  afar  to  witness  all  His 
doings,  and  to  take  a  deep  and  solemn  interest  in 
all  His  dispensations;  and  the  destiny  of  our  species 
whom  the  Infidel  would  thus  detach  in  solitary  in- 
significance, from  the  universe  altogether,  shall  be 
found  to  merge  and  to  mingle  with  higher  destinies 
— the  good  to  spend  their  eternity  with  angels — 
the  bad  to  spend  their  eternity  with  angels — the 
former  to  be  re-admitted  into  the  universal  family 
of  God's  obedient  worshippers — the  latter  to  share 


AMONG  THE  HIGHER  INTELLIGENCES.       151 

in  the  everlasting  pain  and  ignominy  of  the  defeated 
hosts  of  the  rebeUious — the  people  of  this  planet  to 
be  impUcated,  throughout  the  whole  train  of  their 
never-ending  history,  with  the  higher  ranks,  and 
the  more  extended  tribes  of  intelligence  :  And  thus 
it  is,  that  the  special  administration  we  now  live 
under,  shall  be  seen  to  harmonize  in  its  bearings, 
and  to  accord  in  its  magnificence,  with  all  that  ex- 
tent of  nature  and  of  her  territories,  which  modern 
science  has  unfolded. 


152      SLENDER  INFLUENCE  OF  TASTE 


DISCOURSE  VII. 

ON  THE  SLENDER  INFLUENCE  OF  MERE 
TASTE  AND  SENSIBILITY  IN  MATTERS  OF 
RELIGION. 


"  And,  lo !  thou  art  unto  them  as  a  very  lovely  song  of  one  that 
hath  a  pleasant  voice,  and  can  play  well  on  an  instrument :  for 
they  hear  thy  words,  but  they  do  them  not.'' — Ezek.  xxxiii.  32. 

You  easily  understand  how  a  taste  for  music  is  one 
thing,  and  a  real  submission  to  the  influence  of 
religion  is  another — how  the  ear  may  be  regaled  by 
the  melody  of  sound,  and  the  heart  may  utterly 
refuse  the  proper  impression  of  the  sense  that  is 
conveyed  by  it — how  the  sons  and  daughters  of  the 
world  may,  with  their  every  aiFection  devoted  to  its 
perishable  vanities,  inhale  all  the  delights  of  en- 
thusiasm, as  they  sit  in  crowded  assemblage  around 
the  deep  and  solemn  oratorio — and  whether  it  be 
the  humility  of  penitential  feeling,  or  the  rapture 
of  grateful  acknowledgment,  or  the  sublime  of  a 
contemplative  piety,  or  the  aspiration  of  pure  and 
of  holy  purposes,  which  breathes  throughout  the 
words  of  the  performance,  and  gives  to  it  all  the 
spirit  and  all  the  expression  by  which  it  is  pervaded; 
it  is  a  very  possible  thing,  that  the  moral,  and  the 
rational,  and  the  active  man,  may  have  given  no 
entrance  into  his  bosom  for  any  of  these  sentiments; 
and  yet  so  overpowered  may  he  be  by  the  charm  of 
the  vocal  conveyance  through  which  they  are  ad- 


IN  MATTERS  OF  RELIGION.  15 

dressed  to  him,  that  he  may  be  made  to  feel  with 
such  an  emotion,  and  to  weep  with  such  a  tender- 
ness, and  to  kindle  with  such  a  transport,  and  to 
glow  with  such  an  elevation,  as  may  one  and  all 
carry  upon  them  the  semblance  of  sacredness. 

But  might  not  this  semblance  deceive  him  ?  Have 
you  never  heard  any  tell,  and  with  complacency 
too,  how  powerfully  his  devotion  was  awakened  by 
an  act  of  attendance  on  the  oratorio — how  his 
heart,  melted  and  subdued  by  the  influence  of 
harmony,  did  homage  to  all  the  religion  of  which 
it  was  the  vehicle — how  he  was  so  moved  and 
overborne,  as  to  shed  the  tears  of  contrition,  and 
to  be  agitated  by  the  terrors  of  judgment,  and  to 
receive  an  awe  upon  his  spirit  of  the  greatness  and 
the  majesty  of  God — and  that,  wrought  up  to  the 
lofty  pitch  of  eternity,  he  could  look  down  upon  the 
world,  and  by  the  glance  of  one  commanding  survey, 
pronounce  upon  the  littleness  and  the  vanity  of  all 
its  concerns  ?  It  is  indeed  very  possible  that  all 
this  might  thrill  upon  the  ears  of  the  man,  and 
circulate  a  succession  of  solemn  and  affecting 
images  around  his  fancy — and  yet  that  essential 
principle  of  his  nature,  upon  which  the  practical 
influence  of  Christianity  turns,  might  have  met  with 
no  reaching  and  no  subduing  efficacy  whatever  to 
arouse  it.  He  leaves  the  exhibition,  as  dead  in 
trespasses  and  sins  as  he  came  to  it.  Conscience 
has  not  wakened  upon  him.  Repentance  has  not 
turned  him.  Faith  has  not  made  any  positive 
lodgement  within  him  of  her  great  and  her  con- 
straining realities.  He  speeds  him  back  to  his 
business  and  to  his  familv,  and  there  he  acts  the 


154      SLENDER  INFLUENCE  OF  TASTE 

old  man  in  all  the  entireness  of  his  iincrucified 
temper,  and  of  his  obstinate  worldUness,  and  of 
all  those  earthly  and  unsanctified  affections  which 
are  found  to  cleave  to  him  with  as  great  tenacity 
as  ever.  He  is  really  and  experimentally  the  very 
same  man  as  before — and  all  those  sensibilities 
which  seemed  to  bear  upon  them  so  much  of  the 
air  and  unction  of  heaven,  are  found  to  go  into 
dissipation,  and  be  forgotten  with  the  loveliness  of 
the  song. 

Amid  all  that  illusion  which  such  momentary 
visitations  of  seriousness  and  of  sentiment  throw 
around  the  character  of  man,  let  us  never  lose  sight 
of  the  test,  that  ''  by  their  fruits  ye  shall  know 
them."  It  is  not  coming  up  to  this  test,  that  you 
hear  and  are  delighted.  It  is  that  you  hear  and 
do.  This  is  the  ground  upon  which  the  reality  of 
your  religion  is  discriminated  now ;  and  on  the  day 
of  reckoning,  this  is  the  ground  upon  which  your 
religion  will  be  judged  then ;  and  that  award  is  to 
be  passed  upon  you,  which  will  fix  and  perpetuate 
your  destiny  for  ever.  You  have  a  taste  for  music. 
This  no  more  implies  the  hold  and  the  ascendancy 
of  religion  over  you,  than  that  you  have  a  taste  for 
beautiful  scenery,  or  a  taste  for  painting,  or  even  a 
taste  for  the  sensualities  of  epicurism.  But  music 
may  be  made  to  express  the  glow  and  the  move- 
ment of  devotional  feeling;  and  is  it  saying  nothing 
to  say  that  the  heart  of  him  who  hstens  with  a 
raptured  ear,  is,  through  the  whole  time  of  the 
performance,  in  harmony  with  such  a  movement? 
Why,  it  is  saying  nothing  to  the  purpose.  ]\Iusic 
may  lift  the  inspiring  note  of  patriotism ;  and  the 


IN  MATTERS  OF  RELIGION.  155 

inspiration  may  be  felt ;  and  it  may  thrill  over  the 
recesses  of  the  soul,  to  the  mustering  up  of  all  its 
energies ;  and  it  may  sustain  to  the  last  cadence  of 
the  song,  the  firm  nerve  and  purpose  of  intrepidity ; 
and  all  this  may  be  realized  upon  him,  who,  in  the 
day  of  battle  and  upon  actual  collision  with  the 
dangers  of  it,  turns  out  to  be  a  coward.  And 
music  may  lull  the  feelings  into  unison  with  piety ; 
and  stir  up  the  inner  man  to  lofty  determinations ; 
and  so  engage  for  a  time  his  affections,  that,  as  if 
weaned  from  the  dust,  they  promise  an  immediate 
entrance  on  some  great  and  elevated  career,  which 
may  carry  him  through  his  pilgrimage  superior  to  all 
the  sordid  and  grovelling  enticements  that  abound 
in  it.  But  he  turns  him  to  the  world,  and  all  this 
glow  abandons  him;  and  the  words  which  he  had 
heard,  he  doeth  them  not;  and  in  the  hour  of 
temptation  he  turns  out  to  be  a  deserter  from  the 
law  of  allegiance;  and  the  test  we  have  now  specified 
looks  hard  upon  him,  and  discriminates  him  amid 
all  the  parading  insignificance  of  his  fine  but  fugitive 
emotions,  to  be  the  subject  both  of  present  guilt 
and  of  future  vengeance. 

The  faithful  application  of  this  test  would  put 
to  flight  a  host  of  other  delusions.  It  may  be 
carried  round  amongst  all  those  phenomena  of 
human  character,  where  there  is  the  exhibition 
of  something  associated  with  religion,  but  which  is 
not  rehgion  itself.  An  exquisite  relish  for  music 
is  no  test  of  the  influence  of  Christianity.  Neither 
are  many  other  of  the  exquisite  sensibilities  of  our 
nature.  When  a  kind  mother  closes  the  eyes  of  her 
expiring  babe,  she  is  thrown  into  a  flood  of  sensi- 


156  SLENDER  INFLUENCE  OF  TASTE 

bility,  and  soothing  to  her  heart  are  the  sympathy 
and  the  prayers  of  an  attending  minister.  Wlien 
a  gathering  neighbourhood  assemble  to  the  funeral 
of  an  acquaintance,  one  pervading  sense  of  regret 
and  tenderness  sits  on  the  faces  of  the  company ; 
and  the  deep  silence,  broken  only  by  the  solemn 
utterance  of  the  man  of  God,  carries  a  kind  of 
pleasing  religiousness  along  with  it.  The  sacred- 
ness  of  the  hallowed  day,  and  all  the  decencies  of 
its  observation,  may  engage  the  affections  of  him 
who  loves  to  walk  in  the  footsteps  of  his  father; 
and  every  recurring  Sabbath  may  bring  to  his  bosom 
the  charm  of  its  regularity  and  its  quietness.  Re- 
ligion has  its  accompaniments ;  and  in  these  there 
may  be  a  something  to  sooth  and  to  fascinate,  even 
in  the  absence  of  the  appropriate  influences  of  re- 
ligion. The  deep  and  tender  impression  of  a  family 
bereavement,  is  not  religion.  The  love  of  estab- 
lished decencies,  is  not  religion.  The  charm  of  all 
that  sentimentalism  which  is  associated  with  many 
of  its  solemn  and  affecting  services,  is  not  religion. 
They  may  form  the  distinct  folds  of  its  accustomed 
drapery  ;  but  they  do  not,  any,  or  all  of  them  put 
together,  make  up  the  substance  of  the  thing  itself. 
A  mother's  tenderness  may  flow  most  gracefully 
over  the  tomb  of  her  departed  little  one  ;  and  she 
may  talk  the  while  of  that  heaven  whither  its  spirit 
has  ascended.  The  man  whom  death  hath  widow- 
ed of  his  friend,  may  abandon  himself  to  the  move- 
ments of  that  grief,  which  for  a  time  will  claim  an 
ascendancy  over  him  ;  and,  amongst  the  multitude 
of  his  other  reveries,  may  love  to  hear  of  the 
eternity^  where  sorrow  and   separation  cire  alike 


tN  MATTERS  OF  RELIGION.  157 

unknown.  He  who  has  been  trained  from  his 
infant  days  to  remember  the  Sabbath,  may  love 
the  hoUness  of  its  aspect,  and  associate  himself  with 
all  its  observances,  and  take  a  delighted  share  in 
the  mechanism  of  its  forms.  But  let  not  these  think, 
because  the  tastes  and  the  sensibihties  which  en- 
gross them,  may  be  blended  with  rehgion,  that  they 
indicate  either  its  strength  or  its  existence  within 
them.  We  recur  to  the  test.  We  press  its  im- 
perious exactions  upon  you.  We  call  for  fruit, 
and  demand  the  permanency  of  a  religious  influence 
on  the  habits  and  the  history.  How  many  who 
take  a  flattering  unction  to  their  souls,  when  they 
think  of  their  amiable  feelings,  and  their  becoming 
observations,  with  whom  this  severe  touchstone 
would,  like  the  head  of  Medusa,  put  to  flight  all 
their  complacency !  The  afflictive  dispensation  is 
forgotten — and  he  on  whom  it  was  laid,  is  practi- 
cally as  indiffierent  to  God  and  to  eternity  as  before. 
The  Sabbath  services  come  to  a  close,  and  they 
are  followed  by  the  same  routine  of  week-day 
worldliness  as  before.  In  neither  the  one  case  nor 
the  other,  do  we  see  more  of  the  radical  influence 
of  Christianity,  than  in  the  sublime  and  melting  in- 
fluence of  sacred  music  upon  the  soul ;  and  all  this 
tide  of  emotion  is  found  to  die  away  from  the  bosom, 
like  the  pathos  or  like  the  loveliness  of  a  song. 

The  instances  may  be  multiplied  without  number. 
A  man  may  have  a  taste  for  eloquence,  and  elo- 
quence the  most  touching  or  sublime  may  lift  her 
pleading  voice  on  the  side  of  religion.  A  man 
may  love  to  have  his  understanding  stimulated  by 
the  ingenuities,  or  the  resistless  urgencies  of  an  ar- 


158  SLENDER  INFLUENCE  OF  TASTE 

gument ;  and  argument  the  most  profound  and  the 
most  over-bearing,  may  put  forth  all  the  might  of 
a  constraining  vehemence  in  behalf  of  religion.  A 
man  may  feel  the  rejoicings  of  a  conscious  elevation, 
when  some  ideal  scene  of  magnificence  is  laid  be- 
fore him ;  and  where  are  these  scenes  so  readily  to 
be  met  with,  as  when  led  to  expatiate  in  thought 
over  the  track  of  eternity,  or  to  survey  the  wonders 
of  creation,  or  to  look  to  the  magnitude  of  those 
great  and  universal  interests  which  lie  within  the 
compass  of  religion  ?  A  man  may  have  his  atten- 
tion riveted  and  regaled  by  that  power  of  imita- 
tive description,  which  brings  all  the  recollections 
of  his  own  experience  before  him  ;  which  presents 
him  with  a  faithful  analysis  of  his  own  heart ;  which 
embodies  in  language  such  intimacies  of  observa- 
tion and  of  feeling,  as  have  often  passed  before  his 
eyes,  or  played  within  his  bosom,  but  had  never 
been  so  truly  or  so  ably  pictured  to  the  view  of  his 
remembrance.  Now,  all  this  may  be  done  in  the 
work  of  pressing  the  duties  of  religion  ;  in  the  work 
of  instancing  the  applications  of  religion;  in  the 
work  of  pointing  those  allusions  to  life  and  to  man- 
ners, which  manifest  the  truth  to  the  conscience,  and 
plant  such  a  conviction  of  sin,  as  forms  the  very 
basis  of  a  sinner's  religion.  Now,  in  all  these 
cases,  we  see  other  principles  brought  into  action, 
and  which  may  be  in  a  state  of  most  lively  and  vig- 
orous movement,  and  be  yet  in  a  state  of  entire 
separation  from  the  principle  of  religion.  Vie  will 
venture  to  say,  on  the  strength  of  these  illustrations, 
that  as  much  delight  may  emanate  from  the  pulpit 
on  an  arrested  audience  beneath  it,  as  ever  eman- 


IN  MATTERS  OF  RELIGION.  159 

ated  from  the  boards  of  a  theatre — and  with  as 
total  a  disjunction  of  mind  too,  in  the  one  case  as 
in  the  other,  from  the  essence  or  the  habit  of  re- 
ligion. We  recur  to  the  test.  We  make  our 
appeal  to  experience ;  and  we  put  it  to  you  all, 
whether  your  finding  upon  the  subject  do  not  agree 
with  our  saying  about  it,  that  a  man  may  weep  and 
admire,  and  have  many  of  his  faculties  put  upon 
the  stretch  of  their  most  intense  gratification — his 
judgment  established,  and  his  fancy  enlivened,  and 
his  feelings  overpowered,  and  his  hearing  charmed 
as  by  the  accents  of  heavenly  persuasion,  and  all 
within  him  feasted  by  the  rich  and  varied  luxuries 
of  an  intellectual  banquet  I— Oh  !  it  is  cruel  to 
frown  unmannerly  in  the  midst  of  so  much  satis- 
faction. But  I  must  not  forget  that  truth  has  her 
authority,  as  well  as  her  sternness ;  and  she  forces 
me  to  affirm,  that  after  all  this  has  been  felt  and 
gone  through,  there  might  not  be  one  principle 
which  Ues  at  the  turning-point  of  conversion, 
that  has  experienced  a  single  movement — not  one 
of  its  purposes  be  conceived — not  one  of  its  doings 
be  accomplished — not  one  step  of  that  repentance, 
which,  if  we  have  not,  we  perish,  so  much  as  enter- 
ed upon — not  one  announcement  of  that  faith,  by 
which  we  are  saved,  admitted  into  a  real  and  ac- 
tual possession  by  the  inner  man.  He  has  had  his 
hour's  entertainment,  and  willingly  does  he  award 
this  homage  to  the  performer,  that  he  hatha  pleasant 
voice,  and  can  play  well  on  an  instrument — but,  in 
another  hour,  it  fleets  away  from  his  remembrance, 
and  goes  all  to  nothing,  like  the  loveliness  of  a  song. 
Now,  in  bringing  these  Discourses  to  a  close, 


IGO      SLENDER  INFLUENCE  OF  TASTE 

we  feel  it  our  duty  to  advert  to  this  exhibition  of 
character  in  man.  The  subUme  and  interesting 
topic  which  has  engaged  us,  however  feebly  it  may 
have  been  handled  ;  however  inadequately  it  may 
have  been  put  in  all  its  worth,  and  in  all  its  mag- 
nitude before  you;  however  short  the  represen- 
tation of  the  speaker,  or  the  conception  of  the 
hearers,  may  have  been  of  that  richness,  and  that 
greatness,  and  that  loftiness,  which  belong  to  it; 
possesses  in  itself  a  charm  to  fix  the  attention,  and 
to  regale  the  imagination,  and  to  subdue  the  whole 
man  into  a  delighted  reverence  ;  and,  in  a  word,  to 
beget  such  a  solemnity  of  thought  and  of  emotion, 
as  may  occupy  and  enlarge  the  soul  for  hours 
together,  as  may  waft  it  away  from  the  grossness  of 
ordinary  life,  and  raise  it  to  a  kind  of  elevated 
calm  above  all  its  vulgarities  and  all  its  vexations. 
Now,  tell  us  whether  the  whole  of  this  effect 
upon  the  feelings  may  not  be  formed  without  the 
presence  of  religion.  Tell  us  whether  there  might 
not  be  such  a  constitution  of  mind,  that  it  may  both 
want  altogether  that  principle,  in  virtue  of  which 
the  doctrines  of  Christianity  are  admitted  into  the 
belief,  and  the  duties  of  Christianity  are  admitted 
into  a  government  over  the  practice — and  yet  at 
the  very  same  time,  it  may  have  the  faculty  of 
looking  abroad  over  some  scene  of  magnificence, 
and  of  being  wrought  up  to  ecstasy  with  the  sense 
of  all  those  glories  among  which  it  is  expatiating. 
We  want  you  to  see  clearly  the  distinction  between 
these  two  attributes  of  the  human  character.  They 
are,  in  truth,  as  different  the  one  from  the  other, 
as  a  taste  for  the  grand  and  the  graceful  of  scenery 


IN  MATTERS  OF  RELIGION.  l6l 

differs  from  the  appetite  of  hunger ;  and  the  one 
may  both  exist  and  have  a  most  intense  operation 
within  the  bosom  of  that  very  individual,  who  entirely 
disowns,  and  is  entirely  disgusted  with  the  other. 
What!  must  a  man  be  converted,  ere  from  the 
most  elevated  peak  of  some  Alpine  wilderness,  he 
become  capable  of  feeling  the  force  and  the  majesty 
of  those  great  lineaments  which  the  hand  of  nature 
has  thrown  around  him,  in  the  varied  forms  of 
precipice,  and  mountain,  and  the  wave  of  mighty 
forests,  and  the  rush  of  sounding  waterfalls,  and 
distant  glimpses  of  human  territory,  and  pinnacles 
of  everlasting  snow,  and  the  sweep  of  that  circling 
horizon,  which  folds  in  its  ample  embrace  the  whole 
of  this  noble  amphitheatre?  Tell  us  whether, 
without  the  aid  of  Christianity,  or  without  a  par- 
ticle of  reverence  for  the  only  Name  given  under 
heaven  whereby  men  can  be  saved,  a  man  may  not 
kindle  at  such  a  perspective  as  this,  into  all  the 
raptures,  and  into  all  the  movements  of  a  poetic 
elevation ;  and  be  able  to  render  into  the  language 
of  poetry,  the  whole  of  that  sublime  and  beauteous 
imagery  which  adorns  it  ?  and,  as  if  he  were  tread- 
ing on  the  confines  of  a  sanctuary  which  he  has  not 
entered,  may  he  not  mix  up  with  the  power  and 
the  enchantment  of  his  description,  such  allusions 
to  the  presiding  genius  of  the  scene  ;  or  to  the  still 
but  animating  spirit  of  the  solitude ;  or  to  the  speak- 
ing silence  of  some  mysterious  character  which 
reigns  throughout  the  landscape  ;  or,  in  fine,  to  that 
Eternal  Spirit,  who  sits  behind  the  elements  He  has 
formed,  and  combines  them  into  all  the  varieties  of 
a  wide  and  a  wondrous  creation ; — might  not  all 


162      SLENDER  INFLUENCE  OE  TASTE 

this  be  said  and  sung  with  an  emphasis  so  moving, 
as  to  spread  the  colouring  of  piety  over  the  pages 
of  him  who  performs  thus  well  upon  his  instrument; 
and  yet,  the  performer  himself  have  a  conscience 
unmoved  by  a  single  warning  of  God's  actual  com- 
munication, and  the  judgment  unconvinced,  and 
the  fears  unawakened,  and  the  Hfe  unreformed  by- 
it? 

Now,  what  is  true  of  a  scene  on  earth,  is  also 
true  of  that  wider  and  more  elevated  scene  which 
stretches  over  the  immensity  around  it,  into  a  dark 
and  a  distant  unknown.  Who  does  not  feel  an 
aggrandizement  of  thought  and  of  faculty,  when  he 
looks  abroad  over  the  amplitudes  of  creation — when, 
placed  on  a  telescopic  eminence,  his  aided  eye  can 
find  a  pathway  to  innumerable  worlds — when  that 
wondrous  field,  over  which  there  had  hung  for  many 
ages  the  mantle  of  so  deep  an  obscurity,  is  laid 
open  to  him,  and,  instead  of  a  dreary  and  unpeopled 
solitude,  he  can  see  over  the  whole  face  of  it  such 
an  extended  garniture  of  rich  and  goodly  habita- 
tions ?  Even  the  Atheist,  who  tells  us  that  the 
universe  is  self-existent  and  indestructible — even 
he,  who  instead  of  seeing  the  traces  of  a  manifold 
wisdom  in  its  manifold  varieties,  sees  nothing  in 
them  all  but  the  exquisite  structures  and  the  lofty 
dimensions  of  materialism — even  he,  who  would 
despoil  creation  of  its  God,  cannot  look  upon  its 
golden  suns,  and  their  accompanying  systems,  with- 
out the  solemn  impression  of  a  magnificence  that 
fixes  and  overpowers  him.  Now,  conceive  such  a 
belief  of  God  as  you  all  profess,  to  dawn  upon  his 
understanding.     Let  him  become  as  one  of  your- 


IN  MATTERS  OF  RELIGION.  16 

selves — and  so  be  put  into  the  condition  of  rising 
from  the  sublime  of  matter  to  the  sublime  of  mind. 
Let  him  now  learn  to  subordinate  the  whole  of  this 
mechanism  to  the  design  and  authority  of  a  great 
presiding  Intelligence :  and  re-assembling  all  the 
members  of  the  universe,  however  distant,  into  one 
family,  let  him  mingle  with  his  former  conceptions 
of  the  grandeur  which  belong  to  it,  the  conception 
of  that  Eternal  Spirit  who  sits  enthroned  on  the 
immensity  of  His  own  wonders,  and  embraces  all 
that  He  has  made,  within  the  ample  scope  of  one 
great  administration.  Then  will  the  images  and 
the  impressions  of  sublimity  come  in  upon  him  from 
a  new  quarter.  Then  will  another  avenue  be 
opened,  through  which  a  sense  of  grandeur  may 
find  its  way  into  his  soul,  and  have  a  mightier 
influence  than  ever  to  fill,  and  to  elevate,  and  to 
expand  it.  Then  wUl  be  established  a  new  and  a 
noble  association,  by  the  aid  of  which  all  that  he 
formerly  looked  upon  as  fair,  becomes  more  lovely ; 
and  all  that  he  formerly  looked  upon  as  great,  be- 
comes more  magnificent.  But  will  you  beheve  us, 
that  even  with  this  accession  to  his  mind  of  ideas 
gathered  from  the  contemplation  of  the  Divinity ; 
even  with  that  pleasurable  glow  which  steals  over 
his  imagination,  when  he  now  thinks  of  the  majesty 
of  God ;  even  with  as  much  of  what  you  would  call 
piety,  as  we  fear  is  enough  to  sooth  and  to  satisfy 
many  of  yourselves,  and  which  stirs  and  kindles 
within  you  when  you  hear  the  goings  forth  of  the 
Supreme  set  before  you  in  the  terms  of  a  lofty 
representation ;  even  with  all  this,  we  say,  there 
mav  be  as  wide  a  distance  from  the  habit  and  the 


164      SLENDER  INFLUENCE  OF  TASTE 

character  of  godliness,  as  if  God  Avas  still  atheisti- 
cally  disowned  by  him.  Take  the  conduct  of  his 
life  and  the  currency  of  his  affections ;  and  you 
may  see  as  little  upon  them  of  the  stamp  of  loyalty 
to  God,  or  of  reverence  for  any  one  of  his  authen- 
ticated proclamations,  as  you  may  see  in  him  who 
offers  his  poetic  incense  to  the  genii,  or  weeps 
enraptured  over  the  visions  of  a  beauteous  mytho- 
logy. The  sublime  of  Deity  has  wrought  up  his 
soul  to  a  pitch  of  conscious  and  pleasing  elevation 
— and  yet  this  no  more  argues  the  will  of  Deity  to 
have  a  practical  authority  over  him,  than  does  that 
tone  of  elevation  which  is  caught  by  looking  at  the 
sublime  of  a  naked  materialism.  The  one  and  the 
other  have  their  little  hour  of  ascendancy  over  him ; 
and  when  he  turns  him  to  the  rude  and  ordinary 
world,  both  vanish  alike  from  his  sensibilities,  as 
does  the  loveliness  of  a  song. 

To  kindle  and  be  elevated  by  a  sense  of  the 
majesty  of  God,  is  one  thing.  It  is  totally  another 
thing,  to  feel  a  movement  of  obedience  to  the  will 
of  God,  under  the  impression  of  His  rightful  au- 
thority over  all  the  creatures  whom  He  has  formed. 
A  man  may  have  an  imagination  all  alive  to  the 
former ;  while  the  latter  never  prompts  him  to  one 
act  of  obedience ;  never  leads  him  to  compare  his 
life  with  the  requirements  of  the  Law^giver ;  never 
carries  him  from  such  a  scrutiny  as  this,  to  the 
conviction  of  sin;  never  whispers  such  an  accusation 
to  the  ear  of  his  conscience,  as  causes  him  to  mourn, 
and  to  be  in  heaviness  for  the  guilt  of  his  hourly 
and  habitual  rebellion ;  never  shuts  him  up  to  the 
conclusion  of  the  need  of  a  Saviour ;  never  humbles 


IN  MATTERS  OF  RELIGION.  165 

him  to  acquiescence  in  the  doctrine  of  that  revel- 
ation, which  comes  to  his  door  with  such  a  host  of 
evidence,  as  even  his  own  philosophy  cannot  bid 
away ;  never  extorts  a  single  beUeving  prayer  in 
the  name  of  Christ,  or  points  a  single  look,  either 
of  trust  or  of  reverence,  to  His  atonement ;  never 
stirs  any  effective  movement  of  conversion ;  never 
sends  an  aspiring  energy  into  his  bosom  after  the 
aids  of  that  Spirit,  who  alone  can  waken  him  out 
of  his  lethargies,  and  by  the  anointing  which 
remaineth,  can  rivet  and  substantiate  in  his  practice, 
those  goodly  emotions  which  have  hitherto  pHed 
him  with  the  deceitfulness  of  their  momentary  visits, 
and  then  capriciously  abandoned  him. 

The  mere  majesty  of  God's  power  and  greatness, 
when  offered  to  your  notice,  lays  hold  of  one  of 
the  faculties  within  you.  The  holiness  of  God, 
with  His  righteous  claim  of  legislation,  lays  hold 
of  another  of  these  faculties.  The  difference  between 
them  is  so  great,  that  the  one  may  be  engrossed 
and  interested  to  the  full,  while  the  other  remains 
untouched,  and  in  a  state  of  entire  dormancy.  Now, 
it  is  no  matter  what  it  be  that  ministers  delight  to 
the  former  of  these  two  faculties  :  If  the  latter  be 
not  arrested  and  put  on  its  proper  exercise,  you 
are  making  no  approximation  whatever  to  the  right 
habit  and  character  of  religion.  There  are  a 
thousand  ways  in  which  we  may  contrive  to  regale 
your  taste  for  that  which  is  beauteous  and  majestic. 
It  may  find  its  gratification  in  the  loveliness  of  a 
vale,  or  in  the  freer  and  bolder  outlines  of  an  upland 
situation,  or  in  the  terrors  of  a  storm,  or  in  the 
sublime   contemplations   of  astronomy,  or  in  the 


166  SLENDER  INFLUENCE  OF  TASTE 

magnificent  idea  of  a  God  who  sends  forth  the 
wakefuhiess  of  His  omniscient  eye,  and  the  vigour 
of  His  upholding  hand,  throughout  all  the  realms 
of  nature  and  of  providence.  The  mere  taste  of 
the  human  mind  may  get  its  ample  enjoyment  in 
each  and  in  all  of  these  objects,  or  in  a  vivid  repre- 
sentation of  them ;  nor  does  it  make  any  material 
difference,  whether  this  representation  be  addressed 
to  you  from  the  stanzas  of  a  poem,  or  from  the 
recitations  of  a  theatre,  or  finally  from  the  discourses 
and  the  demonstrations  of  a  pulpit.  And  thus  it 
is,  that  still  on  the  impulse  of  the  one  principle  only, 
people  may  come  in  gathering  multitudes  to  the 
house  of  God;  and  share  with  eagerness  in  all  the 
glow  and  bustle  of  a  crowded  attendance ;  and  have 
their  every  eye  directed  to  the  speaker ;  and  feel  a 
responding  movement  in  their  bosom  to  his  many 
appeals  and  his  many  arguments;  and  carry  a 
solemn  and  overpowering  impression  of  all  the 
services  away  with  them  ;  and  yet,  throughout  the 
whole  of  this  seemly  exhibition,  not  one  effectual 
knock  may  have  been  given  at  the  door  of  conscience. 
The  other  principle  may  be  as  profoundly  asleep, 
as  if  hushed  into  the  insensibihty  of  death.  There 
is  a  spirit  of  deep  slumber,  it  would  appear,  which 
the  music  of  no  description,  even  though  attuned 
to  a  theme  so  lofty  as  the  greatness  and  majesty  of 
the  Godhead,  can  ever  charm  away.  Oh  !  it  may 
have  been  a  piece  of  parading  insignificance  al- 
together— the  minister  playing  on  his  favourite 
instrument,  and  the  people  dissipating  away  their 
time  on  the  charm  and  idle  luxury  of  a  theatrical 
emotion. 


IN  MATTERS  OF  RELIGION.  167 

The  religion  of  taste,  is  one  thing.  The  religion 
of  conscience,  is  another.  We  recur  to  the  test. 
What  is  the  plain  and  practical  doing  which  ought 
to  issue  from  the  whole  of  our  argument  ?  If  one 
lesson  come  more  clearly  or  more  authoritatively 
out  of  it  than  another,  it  is  the  supremacy  of  the 
Bible.  If  fitted  to  impress  one  movement  rather 
than  another ;  it  is  that  movement  of  docility,  in 
virtue  of  which,  man,  with  the  feeling  that  he  has 
all  to  learn,  places  himself  in  the  attitude  of  a  little 
child,  before  the  book  of  the  unsearchable  God,  who 
has  deigned  to  break  His  silence,  and  to  transmit 
even  to  our  age  of  the  world,  a  faithful  record  of  his 
own  communication.  What  progress  then  are  you 
making  in  this  movement  ?  Are  you,  or  are  you 
not,  like  new-born  babes,  desiring  the  sincere  milk 
of  the  word,  that  you  may  grow  thereby  ?  How  are 
you  coming  on  in  the  work  of  casting  down  your 
lofty  imaginations  ?  With  the  modesty  of  true 
science,  which  is  here  at  one  with  the  humblest 
and  most  penitentiary  feeling  which  Christianity 
can  awaken,  are  you  bending  an  eye  of  earnestness 
on  the  Bible,  and  appropriating  its  informations, 
and  moulding  your  every  conviction  to  its  doctrines 
and  its  testimonies  ?  How  long,  we  beseech  you, 
has  this  been  your  habitual  exercise  ?  By  this 
time  do  you  feel  the  darkness  and  the  insufficiency 
of  nature  ?  Have  you  found  your  way  to  the  need 
of  an  atonement  ?  Have  you  learned  the  might 
and  efficacy  which  are  given  to  the  principle  of 
faith  ?  Have  you  longed  with  all  your  energies 
to  realize  it  ?  Have  you  broken  loose  from  the 
obvious  misdoings  of  your  former  history  ?      Are 


168     SLENDER  INFLUENCE  OF  TASTE 

you  convinced  of  your  total  deficiency  from  the 
spiritual  obedience  of  the  affections  ?  Have  you 
read  of  the  Holy  Ghost,  by  whom  renewed  in  the 
whole  desire  and  character  of  your  mind,  you  are 
led  to  run  with  alacrity  in  the  way  of  the  command- 
ments ?  Have  you  turned  to  its  practical  use,  the 
important  truth,  that  He  is  given  to  the  believing 
prayers  of  all,  who  really  want  to  be  relieved  from 
the  power  both  of  secret  and  of  visible  iniquity  ? 
We  demand  something  more  than  the  homage  you 
have  rendered  to  the  pleasantness  of  the  voice  that 
has  been  sounded  in  your  hearing.  What  we  have 
now  to  urge  upon  you,  is  the  bidding  of  the  voice, 
to  read,  and  to  reform,  and  to  pray,  and,  in  a  word, 
to  make  your  consistent  step  from  the  elevations 
of  philosophy,  to  all  those  exercises,  whether  of 
doing  or  of  believing,  which  mark  the  conduct  of 
the  earnest,  and  the  devoted,  and  the  subdued, 
and  the  aspiring  Christian. 

This  brings  under  our  view,  a  most  deeply  in- 
teresting exhibition  of  human  nature,  which  may 
often  be  witnessed  among  the  cultivated  orders  of 
society.  When  a  teacher  of  Christianity  addresses 
himself  to  that  principle  of  justice  within  us,  by 
which  we  feel  the  authority  of  God  to  be  a  preroga- 
tive which  righteously  belongs  to  Him,  he  is  then 
speaking  the  appropriate  language  of  religion,  and 
is  advancing  its  naked  and  appropriate  claim  over 
the  obedience  of  mankind.  He  is  then  urging  that 
pertinent  and  powerful  consideration,  upon  which 
alone  he  can  ever  hope  to  obtain  the  ascendancy 
of  a  practical  influence  over  the  purposes  and  the 
conduct  of  human  beings.      It  is  only  by  insisting 


IN  MATTERS  OF  RELIGION,  169 

on  the  moral  claim  of  God  to  a  right  of  government 
over  his  creatures,  that  he  can  carry  their  loyal 
subordination  to  the  will  of  God.  Let  him  keep 
by  this  single  argument,  and  urge  it  upon  the 
conscience,  and  then,  without  any  of  the  other  ac- 
companiments of  what  is  called  Christian  oratory, 
he  may  bring  convincingly  home  upon  his  hearers  all 
the  varieties  of  Christian  doctrine.  He  may  estab- 
lish within  their  minds  the  dominion  of  all  that  is 
essential  in  the  faith  of  the  New  Testament.  He 
may,  by  carrying  out  this  principle  of  God's  autho- 
rity into  all  its  applications,  convince  them  of  sin. 
He  may  lead  them  to  compare  the  loftiness  and 
spirituality  of  His  law,  with  the  habitual  obstinacy 
of  their  own  worldly  affections.  He  may  awaken 
them  to  the  need  of  a  Saviour.  He  may  urge  them 
to  a  faithful  and  submissive  perusal  of  God's  own 
communication.  He  may  thence  press  upon  them 
the  truth  and  the  immutability  of  their  Sovereign. 
He  may  work  in  their  hearts  an  impression  of  this 
emphatic  saying,  that  God  is  not  to  be  mocked — 
that  His  law  must  be  upheld  in  all  the  significancy 
of  its  proclamations — and  that  either  its  severities 
must  be  discharged  upon  the  guilty,  or  in  some 
other  way  an  adequate  provision  be  found  for  its 
outraged  dignity,  and  its  violated  sanctions.  Thus 
may  he  lead  them  to  flee  for  refuge  to  the  blood  of 
the  atonement.  And  he  may  further  urge  upon 
his  hearers,  that  such  is  the  enormity  of  sin,  that 
it  is  not  enough  to  have  found  an  expiation  for  it ; 
that  its  power  and  its  existence  must  be  eradicated 
from  the  hearts  of  all  who  are  to  spend  their  eternity 
in  the  mansions  of  the  celestial ;  that  for  this  pur- 
voL.  vn.  H 


170      SLENDER  INFLUENCE  OF  TASTE 

pose,  an  expedient  is  made  known  to  us  in  the  New 
Testament ;  that  a  process  must  be  described  upon 
earth,  to  which  there  is  given  the  appropriate  name 
of  sanctification ;  that,  at  the  very  commencement 
of  every  true  course  of  discipleship,  this  process  is 
entered  upon  with  a  purpose  in  the  mind  of  forsaking 
all ;  that  nothing  short  of  a  single  devotedness  to 
the  will  of  God,  will  ever  carry  us  forward  through 
the  successive  stages  of  this  holy  and  elevated 
career ;  that  to  help  the  infirmities  of  our  nature, 
the  Spirit  is  ever  in  readiness  to  be  given  to  those 
who  ask  it :  and  that  thus  the  life  of  every  Christian 
becomes  a  life  of  entire  dedication  to  Him  who 
died  for  us — a  life  of  prayer  and  vigilance,  and 
close  dependence  on  the  grace  of  God — and,  as 
the  infallible  result  of  the  plain  but  powerful  and 
peculiar  teaching  of  the  Bible,  a  life  of  vigorous 
unwearied  activity  in  the  doing  of  all  the  command- 
ments. 

Now,  this  we  should  call  the  essential  business 
of  Christianity.  This  is  the  truth  as  it  is  in  Jesus, 
in  its  naked  and  unassociated  simplicity.  In  the 
work  of  urging  it,  nothing  more  might  have  been 
done,  than  to  present  certain  views,  which  may 
come  with  as  great  clearness  and  freshness,  and 
take  as  full  possession  of  the  mind  of  a  peasant,  as 
of  the  mind  of  a  philosopher.  There  is  a  sense 
of  God,  and  of  the  rightful  allegiance  that  is  due 
to  Him.  There  are  plain  and  practical  appeals  to 
the  conscience.  There  is  a  comparison  of  the  state 
of  the  heart,  wdth  the  requirements  of  a  law  which 
proposes  to  take  the  heart  under  its  obedience. 
There  is  the  inward  discernment  of  its  coldness 


IN  MATTERS  OF  RELIGION.  171 

about  God ;  of  its  unconcern  about  the  matters  of 
duty  and  of  eternity ;  of  its  devotion  to  the  forbidden 
objects  of  sense ;  of  its  constant  tendency  to  nourish 
within  its  own  receptacles,  the  very  element  and 
principle  of  rebellion,  and  in  virtue  of  this,  to 
send  forth  the  stream  of  an  hourly  and  accumula- 
ting disobedience  over  those  doings  of  the  outer  man, 
which  make  up  his  visible  history  in  the  world. 
There  is  such  an  earnest  and  overpowering  im- 
pression of  all  this,  as  will  fix  a  man  down  to  the 
single  object  of  deliverance;  as  will  make  him  awake 
only  to  those  reahties  which  have  a  significant  and 
substantial  bearing  on  the  case  that  engrosses  him ; 
as  will  teach  him  to  nauseate  all  the  impertinences 
of  tasteful  and  ambitious  description  ;  as  will  attach 
him  to  the  truth  in  its  simplicity ;  as  will  fasten  his 
every  regard  upon  the  Bible,  where,  if  he  persevere 
in  the  work  of  honest  inquiry,  he  will  soon  be  made 
to  perceive  the  accordancy  between  its  statements, 
and  all  those  movements  of  fear,  or  guilt,  or  deeply 
felt  necessity,  or  conscious  darkness,  stupidity,  and 
unconcern  about  the  matters  of  salvation,  which 
pass  within  his  own  bosom ;  in  a  word,  as  will  en- 
dear to  him  that  plainness  of  speech,  by  which  his 
own  experience  is  set  evidently  before  him,  and 
that  plain  phraseology  of  Scripture,  which  is  best 
fitted  to  bring  home  to  him  the  doctrine  of  redemp- 
tion, in  all  the  truth  and  in  all  the  preciousness  of 
its  applications. 

Now,  the  whole  of  this  work  may  be  going  on, 
and  that  too  in  the  wisest  and  most  effectual  man- 
ner, \vithout  so  much  as  one  particle  of  incense 
being  offered  to  any  of  the  subordinate  principles  of 


172      SLENDER  INFLUENCE  OF  TASTE 

the  human  constitution.  There  may  be  no  fas- 
cinations of  style.  There  may  be  no  magnificence 
of  description.  There  may  be  no  poignancy 
of  acute  and  irresistible  argument.  There  may 
be  a  riveted  attention  on  the  part  of  those  whom 
the  Spirit  of  God  hath  awakened  to  seriousness 
about  the  plain  and  affecting  realities  of  conver- 
sion. Their  conscience  may  be  stricken,  and  their 
appetite  be  excited  for  an  actual  settlement  of 
mind  on  those  points  about  which  they  feel  restless 
and  unconfirmed.  Such  as  these  are  vastly  too 
much  engrossed  with  the  exigencies  of  their  condi- 
tion, to  be  repelled  by  the  homeliness  of  unadorned 
truth.  And  thus  it  is,  that  while  the  loveliness  of 
the  song  has  done  so  little  in  helping  on  the 
influences  of  the  gospel,  our  men  of  simplicity  and 
prayer  have  done  so  much  for  it.  With  a  deep 
and  earnest  impression  of  the  truth  themselves,  they 
have  made  manifest  that  truth  to  the  consciences 
of  others.  Missionaries  have  gone  forth  with  no 
other  preparation  than  the  simple  Word  of  the 
Testimony, — and  thousands  have  owned  its  power, 
by  being  both  the  hearers  of  the  word  and  the  doers 
of  it  also.  They  have  given  us  the  experiment  in 
a  state  of  unmingled  simplicity  ;  and  we  learn,  from 
the  success  of  their  noble  example,  that  without 
any  one  human  expedient  to  charm  the  ear,  the 
heart  may,  by  the  naked  instrumentality  of  the 
Word  of  God,  urged  with  plainness  on  those  who 
feel  its  deceit  and  its  worthlessness,  be  charmed 
to  an  entire  acquiescence  in  the  revealed  way  of 
God,  and  have  impressed  upon  it  the  genuine  stamp 
and  character  of  godliness. 


IN  MATTERS  OF  RELIGION.  173 

Could  the  sense  of  what  is  due  to  God  be  effec- 
tually stirred  up  within  the  human  bosom,  it  would 
lead  to  a  practical  carrying  of  all  the  lessons  of 
Christianity.  Now,  to  awaken  this  moral  sense, 
there  are  certain  simple  relations  between  the 
creature  and  the  Creator,  which  must  be  clearly 
apprehended,  and  manifested  with  power  unto  the 
conscience.  We  believe,  that  however  much  phil- 
osophers may  talk  about  that  comparative  ease  of 
forming  those  conceptions  which  are  simple,  they 
will,  if  in  good  earnest  after  a  right  footing  with 
God,  soon  discover  in  their  own  minds,  all  that 
darkness  and  incapacity  about  spiritual  things,  which 
are  so  broadly  announced  to  us  in  the  New  Testa- 
ment. And  oh !  it  is  a  deeply  interesting  spectacle, 
to  behold  a  man,  Avho  can  take  a  masterly  and 
commanding  survey  over  the  field  of  some  human 
speculation,  who  can  clear  his  discriminated  way 
through  all  the  turns  and  ingenuities  of  some  human 
argument,  who,  by  the  march  of  a  mighty  and 
resistless  demonstration,  can  scale  with  assured 
footstep  the  sublimities  of  science,  and,  from  his 
firm  stand  on  the  eminence  he  has  won,  can  descry 
some  wondrous  range  of  natural  or  intellectual  truth 
spread  out  in  subordination  before  him  : — and  yet 
this  very  man,  may,  in  reference  to  the  moral  and 
authoritative  claims  of  the  Godhead,  be  in  a  state 
of  utter  apathy  and  blindness  !  All  his  attempts, 
either  at  the  spiritual  discernment,  or  the  practical 
impression  of  this  doctrine,  may  be  arrested  and 
baffled  by  the  weight  of  some  great  inexplicable 
impotency.  A  man  of  homely  talents,  and  still 
homelier  education,  may  see  what  he  cannot  see. 


174      SLENDER  INFLUENCE  OF  TASTE 

and  feel  what  he  cannot  feel ;  and  wise  and  prudent 
as  he  is,  there  may  lie  the  barrier  of  an  obstinate 
and  impenetrable  concealment,  between  his  accom- 
plished mind,  and  those  things  which  are  revealed 
unto  babes. 

But  while  his  mind  is  thus  utterly  devoid  of  what 
may  be  called  the  main  or  elemental  principle  of 
theology,  he  may  have  a  far  quicker  apprehension, 
and  have  his  taste  and  his  feelings  much  more 
powerfully  interested,  than  the  simple  Christian 
who  is  beside  him,  by  what  may  be  called  the  cir- 
cumstantials of  theology.  He  can  throw  a  wdder 
and  more  rapid  glance  over  the  magnitudes  of 
creation.  He  can  be  more  delicately  alive  to  the 
beauties  and  the  sublimities  which  abound  in  it. 
He  can,  when  the  idea  of  a  presiding  God  is  sug- 
gested to  him,  have  a  more  kindling  sense  of  His 
natural  majesty,  and  be  able,  both  in  imagination 
and  in  words,  to  surround  the  throne  of  the 
Divinity  by  the  blazonry  of  more  great,  and  splendid, 
and  elevating  images.  And  yet,  with  all  those 
powers  of  conception  which  he  does  possess,  he 
may  not  possess  that  on  which  practical  Chris- 
tianity hinges.  The  moral  relation  between  him 
and  God,  may  neither  be  effectively  perceived,  nor 
faithfully  proceeded  on.  Conscience  may  be  in  a 
state  of  the  most  entire  dormancy,  and  the  man  be 
regaling  himself  with  the  magnificence  of  God, 
while  he  neither  loves  God,  nor  believes  God,  nor 
obeys  God. 

And  here  I  cannot  but  remark,  how  much  effect 
and  simplicity  go  together  in  the  annals  of  Mor- 
avianism.      The   men   of   this    truly    interestmg 


IN  MATT55S  or  BELIGION.  175 

denomination,  address   themselves    excliisivelv   to 
that  principle  of  our  nature,  on  -which  the  proper 
influence    of    Christianity   turns.      Or,    in    other 
words,   they  take   up  the   subject  of  the   gospel 
message — that  message  devised  by  Him  v^'ho  knew 
what  was  in  man,  and  who,  therefore,  knew  how 
to  make  the  right  and  the  suitable  application  to 
man.    They  urge  the  plain  Word  of  the  Testimony: 
and  they  pray  for  a  blessing  from  on  high ;  and 
that  thick  impalpable  veil,  by  which  the  god  of  this 
world  blinds  the  hearts  of  them  who  believe  not, 
lest  the  light  of  the  glorious  gospel  of  Christ  should 
enter  into   them — that  veil,    which  no    power    of 
philosophy  can  draw  aside,  gives  way  to  the  de- 
monstration of  the  Spirit ;  and  thus  it  is,  that  a 
clear  perception  of  scriptural  truth,  and  all  the 
freshness  and  permanency  of  its  moral  influences, 
are  to  be  met  with  among  men  who  have  just  emerged 
from  the  rudest  and  the  grossest  barbarity.     When 
one  looks  at  the  number  and  the  greatness  of  their 
achievements — when  he  thinks  on  the  change  they 
have  made  on  materials  so  coarse  and  so  unpro- 
mising— when  he  eyes  the  villages  they  have  formed 
— and  around  the  whole  of  that  engaging  perspec- 
tive by  which  they  have  chequered  and  relieved 
the  grim  solitude  of  the  desert,  he  witnesses  the 
love,  and  listens  to  the  piety  of  reclaimed  savages  ; 
— who  would  not  long  to  be  in  possession  of  the 
charm  by  which  they  have  wrought  this  wondrous 
transformation — who  would  not  willingly  exchange 
for  it  all  the  parade  of  human  eloquence,  and  all 
the  confidence  of  human  argument — and  for  the 
wisdom  of  winning  souls,  vvho  is  there  that  would 


176      SLENDER  INFLUENCE  OF  TASTE 

not  rejoice  to  throw  the  lovehness  of  the  song,  and 
all  the  insignificancy  of  its  passing  fascinations  away 
from  him  ? 

And  yet  it  is  right  that  every  cavil  against 
Christianity  should  be  met,  and  every  argument 
for  it  be  exhibited,  and  all  the  graces  and  sublim- 
ities of  its  doctrine  be  held  out  to  their  merited 
admiration.  And  if  it  be  true,  as  it  certainly  is, 
that  throughout  the  whole  of  this  process,  a  man 
may  be  carried  rejoicingly  along  from  the  mere  in- 
dulgence of  his  taste,  and  the  mere  play  and  exercise 
of  his  understanding ;  while  conscience  is  untouched, 
and  the  supremacy  of  moral  claims  upon  the  heart 
and  the  conduct  is  practically  disowned  by  him — 
it  is  further  right  that  this  should  be  adverted  to ; 
and  that  such  a  melancholy  unhingement  in  the 
constitution  of  man  should  be  fully  laid  open  ;  and 
that  he  should  be  driven  out  of  the  seductive  com- 
placency which  he  is  so  apt  to  cherish,  merely  be- 
cause he  delio^hts  in  the  loveliness  of  the  sonsr ;  and 
that  he  should  be  urged  with  the  imperiousness  of  a 
demand  which  still  remains  unsatisfied,  to  turn  him 
from  the  corrupt  indifference  of  nature,  and  to  be- 
come personally  a  religious  man ;  and  that  he  should 
be  assured  how  all  the  gratification  he  felt  in  hsten- 
ing  to  the  word  which  respected  the  kingdom  of 
God,  will  be  of  no  avail,  unless  that  kingdom  come 
to  himself  in  power — that  it  will  only  go  to  heighten 
the  perversity  of  his  character — that  it  will  not 
extenuate  his  real  and  practical  ungodliness,  but 
will  serve  most  fearfully  to  aggravate  its  condem- 
nation. 

With  a  religion  so  argumentable  as  ours,  it  may 


IN  MATTERS  OF  RELIGION.  177 

be  easy  to  gather  out  of  it  a  feast  for  the  human 
understanding.  With  a  religion  so  magnificent  as 
ours,  it  may  be  easy  to  gather  out  of  it  a  feast  for 
the  human  imagination.  But  with  a  religion  so 
humbhng,  and  so  strict,  and  so  spiritual,  it  is  not 
easy  to  mortify  the  pride,  or  to  quell  the  strong 
enmity  of  nature  ;  or  to  arrest  the  currency  of  the 
affections ;  or  to  turn  the  constitutional  habits  ;  or 
to  pour  a  new  complexion  over  the  moral  history ; 
or  to  stem  the  domineering  influence  of  things  seen 
and  things  sensible  ;  or  to  invest  faith  with  a  prac- 
tical supremacy;  or  to  give  its  objects  such  a 
vivacity  of  influence  as  shall  overpower  the  near 
and  the  hourly  impressions,  that  are  ever  emanating 
upon  man  from  a  seducing  world.  It  is  here  that 
man  feels  himself  treading  upon  the  limit  of  his 
helplessness.  It  is  here  that  he  sees  where  the 
strength  of  nature  ends ;  and  the  power  of  grace 
must  either  be  put  forth,  or  leave  him  to  grope  his 
darkling  way  without  one  inch  of  progress  towards 
the  life  and  the  substance  of  Christianity.  It  is 
here  that  a  barrier  rises  on  the  contemplation  of 
the  inquirer — the  barrier  of  separation  between  the 
carnal  and  the  spiritual,  and  on  which  he  may  idly 
waste  the  every  energy  which  belongs  to  him  in  the 
enterprise  of  surmounting  it.  It  is  here,  that  after 
having  walked  the  round  of  nature's  acquisitions, 
and  lavished  upon  the  truth  all  his  ingenuities,  and 
surveyed  it  in  its  every  palpable  character  of  grace 
and  majesty,  he  will  still  feel  himself  on  a  level  with 
the  simplest  and  most  untutored  of  the  species. 
He  needs  the  power  of  a  living  manifestation.  He 
needs  the  anointing  which  remaineth.  He  needs 
h2 


178      SLENDER  INFLUEXCE  OF  TASTE 

that  which  fixes  and  perpetuates  a  stable  revolution 
upon  the  character,  and  in  virtue  of  which  he  may- 
be advanced  from  the  state  of  one  who  hears  and  is 
delighted,  to  the  state  of  one  who  hears  and  is  a  doer. 
How  strikingly  is  the  experience  even  of  vigorous 
and  accomplished  nature  at  one  on  this  point  with 
the  announcements  of  revelation,  that  to  work  this 
change,  there  must  be  the  putting  forth  of  a  pe- 
culiar agency ;  and  that  it  is  an  agency,  which,  with- 
held from  the  exercise  of  loftiest  talent,  is  often 
brought  down  on  an  impressed  audience,  through 
the  humblest  of  all  instrumentality,  with  the  de- 
monstration of  the  Spirit  and  with  power. 

Think  it  not  enough,  that  you  carry  in  your 
bosom  an  expanding  sense  of  the  magnificence  of 
creation.  But  pray  for  a  subduing  sense  of  the 
authority  of  the  Creator.  Think  it  not  enough, 
that  with  the  justness  of  a  philosophical  discernment, 
you  have  traced  that  boundary  which  hems  in  all 
the  possibilities  of  human  attainment,  and  have 
found  that  all  beyond  it  is  a  dark  and  fathomless 
unknown.  But  let  this  modesty  of  science  be 
carried,  as  in  consistency  it  ought,  to  the  question 
of  revelation,  and  let  all  the  antipathies  of  nature 
be  schooled  to  acquiescence  in  the  authentic  tes- 
timonies of  the  Bible.  Think  it  not  enough,  that 
you  have  looked  with  sensibility  and  wonder  at  the 
representation  of  God  throned  in  immensity,  yet 
combining,  with  the  vastness  of  his  entire  super- 
intendance,  a  most  thorough  inspection  into  all  the 
minute  and  countless  diversities  of  existence.  Think 
of  your  own  heart  as  one  of  these  diversities  ;  and 
that  he  ponders  all  its  tendencies  ;  and  has  an  eye 


IN  MATTERS  OF  RELIGION.  179 

upon  all  its  movements ;  and  marks  all  its  wayward- 
ness ;  and,  God  of  judgment  as  he  is,  records  its 
every  secret,  and  its  every  sin,  in  the  book  of  his 
remembrance.  Think  it  not  enough,  that  you 
have  been  led  to  associate  a  grandeur  with  the 
salvation  of  the  New  Testament,  when  made  to 
understand  that  it  draws  upon  it  the  regards  of  an 
arrested  universe.  How  is  it  arresting  your  own 
mind  ?  What  has  been  the  earnestness  of  your 
personal  regards  towards  it  ?  And  tell  us,  if  all  its 
faith,  and  all  its  repentance,  and  all  its  holiness, 
are  not  disowned  by  you  ?  Think  it  not  enough, 
that  you  have  felt  a  sentimental  charm  when  angels 
were  pictured  to  your  fancy  as  beckoning  you  to 
their  mansions,  and  anxiously  looking  to  the  every 
symptom  of  your  grace  and  reformation.  Be  con- 
strained by  the  power  of  all  this  tenderness,  and 
yield  yourselves  up  in  a  practical  obedience  to  the 
call  of  the  Lord  God,  merciful  and  gracious.  Think 
it  not  enough,  that  you  have  shared  for  a  moment 
in  the  deep  and  busy  interest  of  that  arduous  con- 
flict which  is  now  going  on  for  a  moral  ascendancy 
over  the  species.  Remember  that  the  conflict  is 
for  each  of  you  individually;  and  let  this  alarm 
you  into  a  watchfulness  against  the  power  of  every 
temptation,  and  a  cleaving  dependence  upon  Him 
through  whom  alone  you  will  be  more  than  con- 
querors. Above  all,  forget  not,  that  while  you 
only  hear  and  are  delighted,  you  are  still  under 
nature's  powerlessness  and  nature's  condemnation 
— and  that  the  foundation  is  not  laid,  the  mighty 
and  essential  change  is  not  accomplished,  the 
transition  from  death  unto  life  is  not  undergone, 


180    SLENDER  INFLUENCE  OF  TASTE,  &C. 

the  saving  faith  is  not  formed,  nor  the  passage  taken 
from  darkness  to  the  marvellous  light  of  the  gospel, 
till  you  are  both  hearers  of  the  word  and  doers 
also.  *'  For  if  any  be  a  hearer  of  the  word,  and 
not  a  doer,  he  is  like  unto  a  man  beholding  his 
natural  face  in  a  glass  :  for  he  beholdeth  himself, 
and  goeth  his  way,  and  straightway  forgetteth  what 
manner  of  man  he  was," 


APPENDIX.  181 

APPENDIXv 


The  writer  of  these  Discourses  has  drawn  up  the 
following  compilation  of  passages  from  Scripture, 
as  servino^  to  illustrate  or  to  confirm  the  leadinsr 
arguments  which  hare  been  employed  in  each  se- 
parate divi^on  of  his  subject. 


DISCOURSE  I. 

In  the  beginning  God  created  the  heaven  and 
the  earth. — Gen.  i.  1. 

Thus  the  heavens  and  the  earth  were  finished, 
and  all  the  host  of  them. — Gen.  ii.  1. 

Behold,  the  heaven,  and  the  heaven  of  heavens, 
is  the  Lord's  thy  God,  the  earth  also,  with  all  that 
therein  is. — Deut.  x.  14. 

There  is  none  like  unto  the  God  of  Jeshurun, 
who  rideth  upon  the  heaven  in  thy  help,  and  in 
his  excellency  on  the  sky. — Deut.  xxxiii.  26. 

And  Hezekiah  prayed  before  the  Lord,  and  said, 
O  Lord  God  of  Israel,  which  dwellest  between  the 
cherubims,  thou  art  the  God,  even  thou  alone,  of 
all  the  kingdoms  of  the  earth ;  thou  hast  made 
heaven  and  earth 2  Kings  xix.  15. 

For  all  the  gods  of  the  people  are  idols :  but  the 
Lord  made  the  heavens 1  Chron.  xvi.  26. 

Thou,  even  thou,  art  Lord   alone:  thou  hast 


182  APPENDIX. 

made  heaven,  the  heaven  of  heavens,  with  aU  their 
host,  the  earth,  and  all  things  that  are  therein,  the 
seas,  and  all  that  is  therein ;  and  thou  preservest 
them  all;  and  the  host  of  heaven  worshippeth 
thee. — Nehemiah  ix.  6. 

Which  alone  spreadeth  out  the  heavens,  and 
treadeth  upon  the  waves  of  the  sea  ;  which  maketh 
Arcturus,  Orion,  and  Pleiades,  and  the  chambers 
of  the  south Job  ix.  8,  9. 

He  stretcheth  out  the  north  over  'the  empty 
place,  and  hangeth  the  earth  upon  nothing. — Job 
XX vi.  7. 

By  his  Spirit  he  hath  garnished  the  heavens. — 
Job  XX vi,  13. 

The  heavens  declare  the  glory  of  God ;  and  the 
firmament  showeth  his  handy-work. — Psalm  xix.  1. 

By  the  word  of  the  Lord  were  the  heavens  made; 
and  all  the  host  of  them  by  the  breath  of  his  mouth. 
— Psalm  xxxiii.  6. 

Of  old  hast  thou  laid  the  foundation  of  the  earth; 
and  the  heavens  are  the  work  of  thy  hands. — Psalm 
cii.  25. 

Who  coverest  thyself  with  light  as  with  a  gar- 
ment; who  stretchest  out  the  heavens  hke  a  curtain. 
— Psalm  civ.  2. 

He  appointed  the  moon  for  seasons ;  the  sun 
knoweth  his  going  down Psalm  civ.  19. 

Ye  are  blessed  of  the  Lord,  which  made  heaven 
and  earth.  The  heaven,  even  the  heavens,  are 
the  Lord's :  but  the  earth  hath  he  given  to  the  child- 
ren of  men Psalm  cxv.  15,  16. 

My  help  cometh  from  the  Lord,  which  made 
heaven  and  earth. — Psalm  cxxi,  2. 


APPENDIX.  183 

Our  help  is  in  the  name  of  the  Lord,  who  made 
heaven  and  earth — Psalm  cxxiv.  8. 

The  Lord,  that  made  heaven  and  earth,  bless 
thee  out  of  Zion. — Psalm  cxxxiv.  3. 

Which  made  heaven,  and  earth,  the  sea,  and  all 
that  therein  is Psalm  cxlvi.  6. 

The  Lord  by  wisdom  hath  founded  the  earth ; 
by  understanding  hath  he  estabUshed  the  heavens. 
— Prov.  iii.  19. 

Who  hath  measured  the  waters  in  the  hollow  of 
his  hand,  and  meted  out  heaven  with  the  span,  and 
comprehended  the  dust  of  the  earth  in  a  measure, 
and  weighed  the  mountains  in  scales,  and  the  hills 
in  a  balance? — Isa.  xl.  12. 

It  is  he  that  sitteth  upon  the  circle  of  the  earth, 
and  the  inhabitants  thereof  are  as  grasshoppers ; 
that  stretcheth  out  the  heavens  as  a  curtain,  and 
spreadeth  them  out  as  a  tent  to  dwell  in. — Isa. 
xl.  22. 

Thus  saith  God  the  Lord,  he  that  created  the 
heavens,  and  stretched  them  out ;  he  that  spread 
forth  the  earth,  and  that  which  cometh  out  of  it ; 
he  that  giveth  breath  unto  the  people  upon  it,  and 
spirit  to  them  that  walk  therein Isa.  xlii.  5. 

Thus  saith  the  Lord,  thy  Redeemer,  and  he 
that  formed  thee  from  the  womb,  I  am  the  Lord 
that  maketh  all  things ;  that  stretcheth  forth  the 
heavens  alone ;  that  spreadeth  abroad  the  earth 
by  himself. — Isa.  xliv.  24. 

I  have  made  the  earth,  and  created  man  upon 
it :  I,  even  my  hands,  have  stretched  out  the  hea- 
vens, and  all  their  host  have  I  commanded. — Isa. 
xlv.  12. 


184  APPENDIX. 

For  thus  saith  the  Lord  that  created  the  heavens, 
God  himself  that  formed  the  earth,  and  made  it; 
he  hath  estabUshed  it,  he  created  it  not  in  vain,  he 
formed  it  to  be  inhabited Isa.  xlv.  18. 

Mine  hand  also  hath  laid  the  foundation  of  the 
earth,  and  my  right  hand  hath  spanned  the  heavens: 

when  I  call  unto  them,  they  stand  up  together 

Isa.  xlviii.  13. 

He  hath  made  the  earth  by  his  power,  he  hath 
established  the  world  by  his  wisdom,  and  hath 
stretched  out  the  heavens  by  his  discretion. — Jer. 
X.  12. 

Ah  Lord  God !  behold,  thou  hast  made  the 
heaven  and  the  earth  by  thy  great  power  and 
stretched-out  arm,  and  there  is  nothing  too  hard  for 
thee Jer.  xxxii,  17. 

He  hath  made  the  earth  by  his  power,  he  hath 
established   the  world   by  his   wisdom,   and   hath 

stretched  out  the  heaven  by  his  understanding 

Jer.  li.  15. 

It  is  he  that  buildeth  his  stories  in  the  heaven, 
and  hath  founded  his  troop  in  the  earth  ;  he  that 
ealleth  for  the  waters  of  the  sea,  and  poureth  them 
out  upon  the  face  of  the  earth  :  The  Lord  is  his 
name. — Amos  ix.  6. 

We  also  are  men  of  like  passions  with  you,  and 
preach  unto  you,  that  ye  should  turn  from  these 
vanities  unto  the  living  God,  which  made  heaven, 
and  earth,  and  the  sea,  and  all  things  that  are 
therein. — Acts  xiv.  15. 

Hath  in  these  last  days  spoken  unto  us  by  his 
Son,  whom  he  hath  appointed  heir  of  all  things, 
bv  whom  also  he  made  the  worlds. — Heb.  i.  2* 


APPENDIX.  185 

Thou,  Lord,  in  the  beginning  hast  laid  the 
foundation  of  the  earth ;  and  the  heavens  are  the 
works  of  thine  hands Heb.  i.  10. 

Through  faith  we  understand  that  the  worlds 
were  framed  by  the  word  of  God.— ^Heb.  xi.  3. 


DISCOURSE  II. 

The  secret  things  belong  unto  the  Lord  our  God; 
but  those  things  which  are  revealed  belong  unto  us 
and  to  our  children  for  ever,  that  we  may  do  all 
the  words  of  this  law Deut.  xxix.  29. 

I  would  seek  unto  God,  and  unto  God  would  I 
commit  my  cause ;  which  doeth  great  things  and 

unsearchable ;  marvellous  things  without  number 

Job  V.  8,  9. 

Which  doeth  great  things  past  finding  out ;  yea, 
and  wonders  without  number — Job  ix.  10. 

Canst  thou  by  searching  find  out  God  ?  canst 
thou  find  out  the  Almighty  unto  perfection  ? — Job 
xi.  7. 

Hast  thou  heard  the  secret  of  God  ?  and  dost 
thou  restrain  wisdom  to  thyself? — Job  xv.  8. 

Lo,  these  are  parts  of  his  ways ;  but  how  little 
a  portion  is  heard  of  him  ?  but  the  thunder  of  his 
power  who  can  understand? — Job  xxvi.  14. 

Behold,  God  is  great,  and  we  know  him  not, 
neither  can  the  number  of  his  years  be  searched 
out Job  xxxvi.  26. 

God   thundereth  marvellously  with  his  voice : 


186  APPENDIX. 

great  things  doethhe,  which  we  cannot  comprehend. 
— Job  XXX vii.  5. 

Touching  the  Almighty,  we  cannot  find  him  out : 
he  is  excellent  in  power,  and  in  judgment,  and  in 
plenty  of  justice Job  xxxvii.  23. 

Tliy  way  is  in  the  sea,  and  thy  path  in  the  great 
waters,  and  thy  footsteps  are  not  known. — Psalm 
Ixxvii.  19. 

Great  is  the  Lord,  and  greatly  to  be  praised ; 
and  his  greatness  is  unsearchable — Psalm  cxlv.  3. 

For  my  thoughts  are  not  your  thoughts,  neither 
are  your  ways  my  ways,  saith  the  Lord.  For  as 
the  heavens  are  higher  than  the  earth,  so  are  my 
ways  higher  than  your  ways,  and  my  thoughts 
than  your  thoughts Isa.  Iv.  8,  9. 

Verily  I  say  unto  you.  Except  ye  be  converted, 
and  become  as  httle  children,  ye  shall  not  enter 
into  the  kingdom  of  heaven. — Matt,  xviii.  3. 

Verily  I  say  unto  you,  Whosoever  shall  not 
receive  the  kingdom  of  God  as  a  httle  child  shall 
in  nowise  enter  therein Luke  xviii.  17. 

O  the  depth  of  the  riches  both  of  the  wisdom 
and  knowledge  of  God !  how  unsearchable  are  his 
judgments,  and  his  ways  past  finding  out !  For  who 
hath  known  the  mind  of  the  Lord  ?  or  who  hath 
been  his  counsellor  ? — Rom.  xi.  33,  34. 

Let  no  man  deceive  himself.  If  any  man  among 
you  seemeth  to  be  wise  in  this  world,  let  him  be- 
come a  fool,  that  he  may  be  wise. — 1  Cor.  iii.  18. 

For  if  a  man  thinketh  himself  to  be  something, 
when  he  is  nothing,  he  deceiveth  himself. — Gal. 
vi.  3. 

Beware  lest  any  man  spoil  you  through  philoso- 


APPENDIX.  187 

phy  and  vain  deceit,  after  the  tradition  of  men,  after 

the  rudiments  of  the  world,  and  not  after  Christ 

Col.  ii.  8. 

O  Timothy,  keep  that  which  is  committed  to  thy 
trust,  avoiding  profane  and  vain  babblings,  and 
oppositions  ofscience  falsely  so  called 1  Tim.  vi.  20 


DISCOURSE  III. 

But  will  God  indeed  dwell  on  the  earth?  Be- 
hold, the  heaven,  and  heaven  of  heavens,  cannot 
contain  thee ;  how  much  less  this  house  that  I  have 
builded  !  Yet  have  thou  respect  unto  the  prayer 
of  thy  servant,  and  to  his  supplication,  O  Lord  my 
God,  to  hearken  unto  the  cry  and  to  the  prayer 
which  thy  servant  prayeth  before  thee  to-day :  that 
thine  eyes  may  be  open  toward  this  house  night 
and  day,  even  toward  the  place  of  which  thou  hast 
said,  My  name  shall  be  there;  that  thou  mayest 
hearken  unto  the  prayer  which  thy  servant  shall 
make  toward  this  place — 1  Kings  viii.  27,  28,  29. 

For  he  looketh  to  the  ends  of  the  earth,  and 
seeth  under  the  whole  heaven Job  xxviii.  24. 

For  his  eyes  are  upon  the  ways  of  man,  and  he 
seeth  all  his  goings Job  xxxiv.  21. 

Though  the  Lord  be  high,  yet  hath  he  respect 
unto  the  lowly Psalm  cxxxviii.  6. 

O  Lord,  thou  hast  searched  me,  and  known  me. 
Thou  knowest  my  down-sitting  and  mine  up-rising  ; 
thou  understandest  my  thought  afar  off.  Thou 
cotnpassest  my  path,  and  my  lying  down,  and  art 


188  APPENDIX. 

acquainted  with  all  my  ways.  For  there  is  not  a 
word  in  my  tongue,  but,  lo,  O  Lord,  thou  knowest 
it  altogether.  Thou  hast  beset  me  behind  and 
before,  and  laid  thine  hand  upon  me.  Such  know- 
ledge is  too  wonderful  for  me ;  it  is  high,  I  cannot 
attain  unto  it.  Whither  shall  I  go  from  thy  Spirit  ? 
or  whither  shall  I  flee  from  thy  presence? — Psalm 
exxxix.  1 — 7. 

How  precious  also  are  thy  thoughts  unto  me,  O 
God  !  how  great  is  the  sum  of  them  !  If  I  should 
count  them,  they  are  more  in   number  than  the 

sand :  when  I  awake,  I  am  still  with  thee Psalm 

exxxix.  17,  18. 

The  eyes  of  the  Lord  are  in  every  place,  behold- 
ing the  evil  and  the  good. — Pro  v.  xv.  3. 

Can  any  hide  himself  in  secret  places  that  I 
shall  not  see  him  ?  saith  the  Lord :  do  not  I  fill 
heaven  and  earth  ?  saith  the  Lord. — Jer.  xxiii.  24. 

Behold  the  fowls  of  the  air :  for  they  sow  not, 
neither  do  they  reap,  nor  gather  into  barns;  yet  your 
heavenly  Father  feedeth  them.  Are  ye  not  much 
better  than  they  ?  And  why  take  ye  thought  for 
raiment  ?  Consider  the  lilies  of  the  field,  how  they 
grow ;  they  toil  not,  neither  do  they  spin :  and  yet 
I  say  unto  you,  That  even  Solomon,  in  all  his  glory, 
was  not  arrayed  like  one  of  these.  Wherefore,  if 
God  so  clothe  the  grass  of  the  field,  which  to-day 
is,  and  to-morrow  is  cast  into  the  oven,  shall  he 
not  much  more  clothe  you,  O  ye  of  little  faith  ? — 
Matt.  vi.  26,  28,  29,  30. 

But  the  very  hairs  of  your  head  are  all  numbered. 
—Matt.  X.  30. 

Neither  is  there  any  creature  that  is  not  manifest 


APPENDIX.  189 

in  his  sight :  but  all  things  are  naked  and  opened 
unto  the  eyes  of  him  with  whom  we  have  to  do.— . 
Heb.  iv.  13. 


DISCOURSE  IV. 

A.nd  he  dreamed,  and  behold  a  ladder  set  up  on 

the  earth,  and  the  top  of  it  reached  to  heaven ;  and 
behold  the  angels  of  God  ascending  and  descending 
on  it. — Gen.  xxviii.  12. 

For  a  thousand  years  in  thy  sight  are  but  as 
yesterday  when  it  is  past,  and  as  a  watch  in  the 
night. — Psalm  xc.  4. 

Lift  up  your  eyes  to  the  heavens,  and  look  upon 
the  earth  beneath ;  for  the  heavens  shall  vanish  away 
like  smoke,  and  the  earth  shall  wax  old  like  a  gar- 
ment, and  they  that  dwell  therein  shall  die  in  hke 
manner  ;  but  my  salvation  shall  be  for  ever,  and  my 
righteousness  shall  not  be  abolished. — Isa.  li.  6. 

For  the  Son  of  man  shall  come  in  the  glory  of  his 
Father,  with  his  angels  ;  and  then  he  shall  reward 
every  man  according  to  his  works. — Matt.  xvi.  27. 

When  the  Son  of  man  shall  come  in  his  glory, 
and  all  the  holy  angels  with  him,  then  shall  he  sit 
upon  the  throne  of  his  glory Matt.  xxv.  31. 

Also  1  say  unto  you,  Whosoever  shall  confess 
me  before  men,  him  shall  the  Son  of  man  also  con- 
fess before  the  angels  of  God  :  but  he  that  denieth 
me  before  men,  shall  be  denied  before  the  angels 
of  God — Luke  xii.  8,  9. 

And  he  saith   unto  him,   Verily,  verily,   I  say 


190  APPENDIX. 

unto  you,  Hereafter  ye  shall  see  heaven  open,  and 
the  angels  of  God  ascending  and  descending  upon 
the  Son  of  man John  i.  51. 

We  are  made  a  spectacle  unto  the  world,  and  to 
angels,  and  to  men 1  Cor.  iv.  9. 

Wherefore  God  also  hath  highly  exalted  him, 
and  given  him  a  name  which  is  above  every  name  ; 
that  at  the  name  of  Jesus  every  knee  should  bow, 
of  things  in  heaven,  and  things  in  earth,  and  things 
under  the  earth;  and  that  every  tongue  should 
confess  that  Jesus  Christ  is  Lord,  to  the  glory  of 
God  the  Father Phil.  ii.  9,  10,  11. 

When  the  Lord  Jesus  shall  be  revealed  from 
heaven  with  his  mighty  angels 2  Thess.  i.  7. 

And,  without  controversy,  great  is  the  mystery 
of  godliness  :  God  was  manifest  in  the  flesh,  justifi- 
ed in  the  Spirit,  seen  of  angels,  preached  unto  the 
Gentiles,  believed  on  in  the  world,  received  up  into 
glory — 1  Tim.  iii.  16. 

I  charge  thee  before  God,  and  the  Lord  Jesus 
Christ,  and  the  elect  angels,  that  thou  observe 
these  things 1  Tim.  v.  21. 

And  again,  when  he  bringeth  in  the  first-begotten 
into  the  world,  he  saith.  And  let  all  the  angels  of 

God  worship  him Heb.  i.  6. 

But  ye  are  come  unto  Mount  Zion,  and  unto 
the  city  of  the  living  God,  the  heavenly  Jeru- 
salem, and  to  an  innumerable  company  of  angels, 
to  the  general  assembly  and  church  of  the  first- 
born, which  are  written  in  heaven,  and  to  God  the 
Judge  of  all,  and  to  the  spirits  of  just  men  made 
perfect,  and  to  Jesus  the  mediator  of  the  new  cov- 
enant— Heb.  xii.  22,  23,  24. 


APPENDIX.  ^  191 

But,  beloved,  be  not  ignorant  of  this  one  thing, 
that  one  day  is  with  the  Lord  as  a  thousand  years, 
and  a  thousand  years  as  one  day.  The  Lord  is 
not  slack  concerninghis  promise,  as  some  men  count 
slackness  ;  but  is  long-suffering  to  us-ward,  not 
willing  that  any  should  perish,  but  that  all  should 
come  to  repentance.  But  the  day  of  the  Lord 
will  come  as  a  thief  in  the  night ;  in  the  which 
the  heavens  shall  pass  away  with  a  great  noise, 
and  the  elements  shall  melt  with  fervent  heat,  the 
earth  also,  and  the  works  that  are  therein,  shall  be 
burnt  up — 2  Peter  iii.  8,  9,  10. 

And  the  angel  which  I  saw  stand  upon  the  sea 
and  upon  the  earth  lifted  up  his  hand  to  heaven, 
and  sware  by  him  that  liveth  for  ever  and  ever,  who 
created  heaven,  and  the  things  that  therein  are,  and 
the  earth,  and  the  things  that  therein  are,  and  the 
sea,  and  the  things  which  are  therein,  that  there 
should  be  time  no  longer Rev.  x.  5,  6. 

And  the  third  angel  followed  them,  saying  with 
a  loud  voice,  If  any  man  worship  the  beast  and  his 
image,  and  receive  his  mark  in  his  forehead,  or  in  his 
hand,  the  same  shall  drink  of  the  w  ine  of  the  wrath 
of  God,  which  is  poured  out  without  mixture  into 
the  cup  of  his  indignation ;  and  he  shall  be  tor- 
mented with  fire  and  brimstone  in  the  presence  of 
the  holy  angels,  and  in  the  presence  of  the  Lamb. 
— Rev.  xiv.  9,  10. 

And  I  saw  a  great  white  throne,  and  him  that 
sat  on  it,  from  whose  face  the  earth  and  the  heaven 
fled  away ;  and  there  was  found  no  place  for  them. 
— Rev.  XX.  11. 


192  .  APPENDIX. 


DISCOURSE  V. 

And  Nathan  departed  unto  his  house  :  and  the 
Lord  struck  the  child  that  Uriah's  wife  bare  unto 
David,  and  it  was  very  sick.  David  therefore  be- 
sought God  for  the  child ;  and  David  fasted,  and 
went  in,  and  lay  all  night  upon  the  earth.  And 
the  elders  of  his  house  arose,  and  went  to  him,  to 
raise  him  up  from  the  earth :  but  he  would  not, 
neither  did  he  eat  bread  with  them.  And  it  came 
to  pass  on  the  seventh  day,  that  the  child  died. 
And  the  servants  of  David  feared  to  tell  him  that 
the  child  was  dead  ;  for  they  said,  Behold,  while 
the  child  was  yet  alive,  we  spake  unto  him,  and  he 
would  not  hearken  unto  our  voice:  how  will  he  then 
vex  himself,  if  we  tell  him  that  the  child  is  dead  ? 
But  when  David  saw  that  his  servants  whispered, 
David  perceived  that  the  child  was  dead :  there- 
fore David  said  unto  his  servants.  Is  the  child  dead? 
And  they  said,  He  is  dead.  Then  David  arose 
from  the  earth,  and  washed,  and  anointed  himself, 
and  changed  his  apparel,  and  came  into  the  house 
of  the  Lord,  and  worshipped :  then  he  came  to 
his  own  house ;  and  when  he  required,  they  set 
bread  before  him,  and  he  did  eat.  Then  said  his 
servants  unto  him.  What  thing  is  this  that  thou 
hast  done  ?  "  Thou  didst  fast  and  weep  for  the 
child,  while  it  was  alive;  but  when  the  child  was 
dead,  thou  didst  rise  and  eat  bread.  And  he 
said.  While  the  child  was  yet  alive,  I  fasted  and 
wept :  for  I  said.  Who  can  tell  whether  God  will 
be  gracious  to  me,  that  the  child  may  live  ?      But 


APPENDIX.  193 

now  he  is  dead,  wherefore  should  I  fast  ?  can  I 
bring  him  back  again  ?  I  shall  go  to  him,  but 
he  shall  not  return  to  me — 2  Sam.  xii.   15 — 23. 

The  angel  of  the  Lord  encampeth  round  about 
them  that  fear  him,  and  deUvereth  them. — Psalm 
xxxiv.  7. 

For  he  shall  give  his  angels  charge  over  thee, 
to  keep  thee  in  all  thy  ways. — Psalm  xci.  11. 

And  he  shall  send  his  angels  with  a  great  sound 
of  a  trumpet,  and  they  shall  gather  together  his 
elect  from  the  four  winds,  from  one  end  of  heaven 
to  the  other Matt.  xxiv.  31. 

Likewise,  I  say  unto  you.  There  is  joy  in  the 
presence  of  the  angels  of  God  over  one  sinner  that 
repenteth. — Luke  xv.  10. 

Are  they  not  all  ministering  spirits,  sent  forth  to 
minister  for  them  who  shall  be  heirs  of  salvation  ? 
— Heb.  i.  14. 


DISCOURSE  VI. 

Then  was  Jesus  led  up  of  the  Spirit  into  the 
wilderness,  to  be  tempted  of  the  devil Matt.  iv.  1. 

The  enemy  that  sowed  them  is  the  devil ;  the 
harvest  is  the  end  of  the  world ;  and  the  reapers 
are  the  angels.  The  Son  of  man  shall  send  forth 
his  angels,  and  they  shall  gather  out  of  his  kingdom 
all  things  that  offend,  and  them  which  do  iniquity. 
—Matt.  xiii.  39,  41. 

Then  shall  he  say  also  unto  them  on  the  left 
hand.  Depart  from  me,  ye  cursed,  into  everlasting 

VOL.  vir.  I 


194  APPENDIX. 

fire,  prepared  for  the  devil  and  his  angels. — Matt. 
XXV.  41. 

And  in  the  synagogue  there  was  a  man  which 
had  a  spirit  of  an  unclean  devil,  and  cried  out  with 
a  loud  voice,  saying,  Let  us  alone ;  what  have  we 
to  do  with  thee,  thou  Jesus  of  Nazareth  ?  art  thou 
come  to  destroy  us  ?  I  know  thee  who  thou  art : 
the  Holy  One  of  God Luke  iv.  33,  34. 

Those  by  the  way-side  are  they  that  hear ;  then 
Cometh  the  devil,  and  taketh  away  the  word  out  of 
their  hearts,  lest  they  should  believe  and  be  saved. 
— Luke  viii.  12. 

But  he,  knowing  their  thoughts,  said  unto  them. 
Every  kingdom  divided  against  itself  is  brought  to 
desolation;  and  a  house  divided  against  a  house 
falleth.  If  Satan  also  be  divided  against  himself, 
how  shall  his  kingdom  stand  ?  because  ye  say  that  I 
cast  out  devils  through  Beelzebub — Luke  xi.l7, 18. 

Ye  are  of  your  father  the  devil,  and  the  lusts  of 
your  father  ye  will  do :  he  was  a  murderer  from 
the  beginning,  and  abode  not  in  the  truth,  because 
there  is  no  truth  in  him.  When  he  speaketh  a  lie, 
he  speaketh  of  his  own  :  for  he  is  a  liar,  and  the 
father  of  it John  viii.  44. 

And  supper  being  ended,  (the  devil  having  now 
put  into  the  heart  of  Judas  Iscariot,  Simon's  son, 
to  betray  him.) — John  xiii.  2. 

But  Peter  said,  Ananias,  why  hath  Satan  filled 
thine  heart  to  lie  to  the  Holy  Ghost,  and  to  keep 
back  part  of  the  price  of  the  land  ? — Acts  v.  3. 

To  open  their  eyes,  and  to  turn  them  from  dark- 
ness to  light,  and  from  the  power  of  Satan  unto 
God,  that  they  may  receive  forgiveness  of  sins,  and 


APPENDIX.  195 

inheritance  among  them  which  are  sanctified  by 
faith  that  is  in  me Acts  xxvi.  18. 

And  the  God  of  peace  shall  bruise  Satan  under 
your  feet  shortly.  The  grace  of  our  Lord  Jesus 
Christ  be  with  you.      Amen Rom.  xvi.  20. 

Lest  Satan  should  get  an  advantage  of  us :  for 
we  are  not  ignorant  of  his  devices 2  Cor.  ii.  11. 

In  whom  the  god  of  this  world  hath  blinded  the 
minds  of  them  which  believe  not,  lest  the  light  of 
the  glorious  gospel  of  Christ,  who  is  the  image  of 
God,  should  shine  unto  them 2  Cor.  iv.  4. 

Wherein  in  time  past  ye  walked  according  to 
the  course  of  this  world,  according  to  the  prince  of 
the  power  of  the  air,  the  spirit  that  now  worketh 
in  the  children  of  disobedience. — Eph.  ii.  2. 

Put  on  the  whole  armour  of  God,  that  ye  may 
be  able  to  stand  against  the  wiles  of  the  devil.  For 
we  wrestle  not  against  flesh  and  blood,  but  against 
principalities,  against  powers,  against  the  rulers  of 
the  darkness  of  tliis  world,  against  spiritual  wicked- 
ness in  high  places. — Eph.  vi.  1 1,  12. 

For  some  are  already  turned  aside  after  Satan. — 
1  Tim.  v.  15. 

Forasmuch  then  as  the  children  are  partakers  of 
flesh  and  blood,  he  also  himself  likewise  took  part 
of  the  same ;  that  through  death  he  might  destroy 
him  that  had  the  power  of  death,  that  is,  the  devil. 
_Heb.  ii.  14. 

Submit  yourselves  therefore  to  God.  Resist 
the  devil,  and  he  will  flee  from  you. — James  iv.  7. 

Be  sober,  be  vigilant;  because  your  adversary 
the  devil,  as  a  roaring  lion,  walketh  about,  seeking 
whom  he  may  devour ;  whom  resist  steadfast  in  the 


196  APPENDIX. 

faith,  knowing  that  the  same  afflictions  are  accom- 
plished in  your  brethren  that  are  in  the  world 1 

Pet.  V.  8,  9. 

He  that  committeth  sin  is  of  the  devil ;  for  the 
devil  sinneth  from  the  beginning.  For  this  purpose 
the  Son  of  God  was  manifested,  that  he  might  de- 
stroy the  works  of  the  devil In  this  the  children 

of  God  are  manifest,  and  the  children  of  the  devil : 
whosoever  doeth  not  righteousness  is  not  of  God, 
neither  he  that  lovethnot  his  brother. — 1  John  iii. 
8,  10. 

Ye  are  of  God,  little  children,  and  have  overcome 
them ;  because  greater  is  he  that  is  in  you,  than  he 
that  is  in  the  world 1  John  iv.  4. 

And  the  angels  which  kept  not  their  first  estate, 
but  left  their  own  habitation,  he  hath  reserved  in 
everlasting  chains,  under  darkness,  unto  the  judg- 
ment of  the  great  day Jude  6. 

He  that  overcometh,  the  same  shall  be  clothed 
in  white  raiment;  and  I  will  not  blot  out  his  name 
out  of  the  book  of  life,  but  I  will  confess  his  name 
before  my  Father,  and  before  his  angels Rev.  iii.  5. 

And  there  was  war  in  heaven :  Michael  and  his 
angels  fought  against  the  dragon ;  and  the  dragon 
fought  and  his  angels,  and  prevailed  not ;  neither 
was  their  place  found  any  more  in  heaven.  And 
the  great  dragon  was  cast  out,  that  old  serpent, 
called  the  Devil,  and  Satan,  which  deceiveth  the 
whole  world ;  he  was  cast  out  into  the  earth,  and 
his  angels  were  cast  out  with  him.  Therefore  re- 
joice, ye  heavens,  and  ye  that  dwell  in  them.  Woe 
to  the  inhabiters  of  the  earth  and  of  the  sea !  for 
the  devil  is  come  down  unto  you,  having  great 


APPENDIX.  197 

wrath,  because  he  knoweth  that  he  hath  but  a  short 
time. — Rev.  xii.  7,  8,  9,  12. 

And  he  laid  hold  on  the  dragon,  that  old  serpent, 
which  is  the  Devil,  and  Satan,  and  bound  him  a 
thousand  years.  And  when  the  thousand  years  are 
expired,  Satan  shall  be  loosed  out  of  his  prison. 
And  the  devil  that  deceived  them  was  cast  into  the 
lake  of  fire  and  brimstone,  where  the  beast  and  the 
false  prophet  are,  and  shall  be  tormented  day  and 
night  for  ever  and  ever. — Rev.  xx.  2,  7,  10. 


DISCOURSE  VII. 

Therefore,  whosoever  heareth  these  sayings  of 
mine,  and  doeth  them,  I  will  liken  him  unto  a  wise 
man,  which  built  his  house  upon  a  rock ;  and  the 
rain  descended,  and  the  floods  came,  and  the  winds 
blew,  and  beat  upon  that  house ;  and  it  fell  not : 
for  it  was  founded  upon  a  rock.  And  every  one 
that  heareth  these  sayings  of  mine,  and  doeth  them 
not,  shall  be  likened  unto  a  fooUsh  man,  which  built 
his  house  upon  the  sand :  and  the  rain  descended, 
and  the  floods  came,  and  the  winds  blew  :  and  beat 
upon  that  house  ;  and  it  fell :  and  great  was  the  fall 
of  it — Matt.  vii.  24—27. 

At  that  time  Jesus  answered  and  said,  I  thank 
thee,  O  Father,  Lord  of  heaven  and  earth,  because 
thou  hast  hid  these  things  from  the  wise  and  pru- 
dent, and  hast  revealed  them  unto  babes Matt. 

xi.  25. 

Then  shall  ye  begin  to  say,  We  have  eaten  and 


198  APPENDIX. 

drunk  in  thy  presence,  and  thou  hast  taught  hi  our 
streets.  But  he  shall  say,  I  tell  you,  I  know  you 
not  whence  ye  are  :  depart  from  me,  all  ye  workers 
of  miquity. — Luke  xiii.  26,  27. 

For  not  the  hearers  of  the  law  are  just  before 
God,  but  the  doers  of  the  law  shall  be  justified. — 
Rom.  ii.  13. 

And  I,  brethren,  when  I  came  to  you,  came  not 
with  excellency  of  speech,  or  of  wisdom,  declaring 
unto  you  the  testimony  of  God:  for  I  determined  not 
to  know  anything  among  you,  save  Jesus  Christ,  and 
him  crucified.  And  my  speech  and  my  preaching 
w^as  not  with  enticing  words  of  man's  wisdom,  but 
in  demonstration  of  the  Spirit  and  of  power ;  that 
your  faith  should  not  stand  in  the  wisdom  of  men, 
but  in  the  power  of  God.  Now  we  have  received, 
not  the  spirit  of  the  world,  but  the  Spirit  which  is 
of  God ;  that  we  might  know  the  things  that  are 
freely  given  to  us  of  God.  Which  things  also  we 
speak,  not  in  the  words  which  man's  wisdom  teacheth, 
but  which  the  Holy  Ghost  teacheth;  comparing 
spiritual  things  with  spiritual.  But  the  natural 
man  receiveth  not  the  things  of  the  Spirit  of  God; 
for  they  are  foolishness  unto  him :  neither  can  he 
know  them,  because  they  are  spiritually  discerned. 
— 1  Cor.  ii.  1,  2,  4,  5,  12,  13,  14. 

For  the  wisdom  of  this  world  is  foolishness  with 
God 1  Cor.  iii.  19. 

For  the  kingdom  of  God  is  not  in  word,  but  in 
power 1  Cor.  iv.  20. 

Forasmuch  as  ye  are  manifestly  declared  to  be 
the  epistle  of  Christ,  ministered  by  us,  written  not 
with  ink,  but  with  the  Spirit  of  the  living  God ;  not 


APPENDIX.  199 

in  tables  of  stone,  but  in  fleshly  tables  of  the  heart. 
Not  that  we  are  sufficient  of  ourselves  to  think  any 
thing  as  of  ourselves  ;  but  our  sufficiency  is  of  God; 
who  also  hath  made  us  able  ministers  of  the  New 
Testament;  not  of  the  letter,  but  of  the  spirit:  for 
the  letter  killeth,  but  the  spirit  giveth  life. — 2  Cor. 
iii.  3,  5,  6. 

That  the  God  of  our  Lord  Jesus  Christ,  the 
Father  of  glory,  may  give  unto  you  the  spirit  of 
wisdom  and  revelation  in  the  knowledge  of  him : 
the  eyes  of  your  understanding  being  enlightened ; 
that  ye  may  know  what  is  the  hope  of  his  calling, 
and  what  the  riches  of  the  glory  of  his  inheritance 
in  the  saints,  and  what  is  the  exceeding  greatness 
of  his  power  to  us-ward  who  believe,  according  to 
the  working  of  his  mighty  power — Eph.  i.  17,  18, 
19. 

And  you  hath  he  quickened,  who  were  dead  in 
trespasses  and  sins.  For  we  are  his  workmanship, 
created  in  Christ  Jesus  unto  good  works — Eph.  ii. 
1,  10. 

For  our  gospel  came  not  unto  you  in  word  only, 
but  also  in  power,  and  in  the  Holy  Ghost,  and  in 
much  assurance. — 1  Thess.  i.  5. 

Of  his  own  will  begat  he  us  with  the  word  of 
truth,  that  we  should  be  a  kind  of  first-fruits  of  his 
creatures.  But  be  ye  doers  of  the  word,  and  not 
hearers  only,  deceiving  your  ownselves.  For  if  any 
be  a  hearer  of  the  word,  and  not  a  doer,  he  is  like 
unto  a  man  beholding  his  natural  face  in  a  glass  : 
for  he  beholdeth  himself,  and  goeth  his  way,  and 
straightway  forgetteth  what  manner  of  man  he  was. 
But  whoso  looketh  into  the  perfect  law  of  liberty, 


200  APPENDIX. 

and  continueth  therein,  he  being  not  a  forgetful 
hearer,  but  a  doer  of  the  work,  this  man  shall  be 
blessed  in  his  deed James  i.  18,  22,  25. 

But  ye  are  a  chosen  generation,  a  royal  priest- 
hood, an  holy  nation,  a  peculiar  people ;  that  ye 
should  show  forth  the  praises  of  him  who  hath  call- 
ed you  out  of  darkness  into  his  marvellous  light. — 
1  Peter  ii.  9. 

But  ye  have  an  unction  from  the  Holy  One,  and 
ye  know  all  things.  But  the  anointing  which  ye 
have  received  of  him  abideth  in  you ;  and  ye  need 
not  that  any  man  teach  you  :  but  as  the  same  an- 
ointing teacheth  you  of  all  things,  and  is  truth, 
and  is  no  lie,  and  even  as  it  hath  taught  you,  ye 
shall  abide  in  him. — 1  John  ii.  20,  27. 


DISCOURSES 

OF  A 

KINDRED   CHARACTER  WITH  THE 
PRECEDING* 


£2 


THE  CONSTANCY  OF  NATURE,  &C.  203 


DISCOURSE  I. 

THE  CONSTANCY  OF  GOD  IN  HIS  WORKS  AN 
ARGUMENT  FOR  THE  FAITHFULNESS  OF 
GOD  IN  HIS  WORD. 


*'  For  ever,  0  Lord,  thy  word  is  settled  in  heaven.  Thy  faithful- 
ness is  unto  all  generations :  thou  hast  established  the  earth, 
and  it  abideth.  They  continue  this  day  according  to  thine 
ordinances :  for  all  are  thy  servants." — Psalm  cxix.  89,  90,  91. 

In  these  verses  there  is  affirmed  to  be  an  analogy 
between  the  word  of  God  and  the  works  of  God. 
It  is  said  of  His  word,  that  it  is  settled  in  heaven, 
and  that  it  sustains  its  faithfulness  from  one  genera- 
tion to  another.  It  is  said  of  His  works,  and  more 
especially  of  those  that  are  immediately  around  us, 
even  of  the  earth  which  we  inhabit,  that  as  it  was 
established  at  the  first  so  it  abideth  afterwards. 
And  then,  as  if  to  perfect  the  assimilation  between 
them,  it  is  said  of  both  in  the  91st  verse,  "  They 
continue  this  day  according  to  thine  ordinances,  for 
all  are  thy  servants ;"  thereby  identifying  the  sure- 
ness  of  that  word  which  proceeded  from  His  lips, 
with  the  unfailing  constancy  of  that  Nature  which 
was  formed  and  is  upholden  by  His  hands. 

The  constancy  of  Nature  is  taught  by  universal 
experience,  and  even  strikes  the  popular  eye  as  the 
most  characteristic  of  those  features  which  have 
been  impressed  upon  her.  It  may  need  the  aid  of 
philosophy  to  learn  how  unvarying  Nature  is  in  all 
her   processes — how  even  her  seeming  anomalies 


204       THE  CONSTANCY  OF  NATURE 

can  be  traced  to  a  law  that  is  inflexible — how  what 
might  appear  at  first  to  be  the  caprices  of  her  way- 
wardness, are,  in  fact,  the  evolutions  of  a  mechanism 
that  never  changes — and  that  the  more  thoroughly 
she  is  sifted  and  put  to  the  test  by  the  interrogations 
of  the  curious,  the  more  certainly  will  they  find 
that  she  walks  by  a  rule  which  knows  no  abatement, 
and  perseveres  with  obedient  footstep  in  that  even 
course,  from  which  the  eye  of  strictest  scrutiny, 
has  never  yet  detected  one  hair-breadth  of  deviation. 
It  is  no  longer  doubted  by  men  of  science,  that 
every  remaining  semblance  of  irregularity  in  the 
universe  is  due,  not  to  the  fickleness  of  Nature,  but 
to  the  ignorance  of  man — that  her  most  hidden 
movements  are  conducted  with  a  uniformity  as 
rigorous  as  Fate — that  even  the  fitful  agitations  of 
the  weather  have  their  law  and  their  principle — 
that  the  intensity  of  every  breeze,  and  the  number 
of  drops  in  every  shower,  and  the  formation  of  every 
cloud,  and  all  the  occurring  alternations  of  storm 
and  sunshine,  and  the  endless  shiftings  of  tempera- 
ture, and  those  tremulous  varieties  of  the  air  which 
our  instruments  have  enabled  us  to  discover  but 
have  not  enabled  us  to  explain — that  still,  they 
follow  each  other  by  a  method  of  succession,  which, 
though  greatly  more  intricate,  is  yet  as  absolute  in 
itself  as  the  order  of  the  seasons,  or  the  mathemati- 
cal courses  of  astronomy.  This  is  the  impression 
of  every  philosophical  mind  with  regard  to  Nature, 
and  it  is  strengthened  by  each  new  accession  that 
is  made  to  science.  The  more  we  are  acquainted 
with  her,  the  more  are  we  led  to  recognise  her 
constancy ;  and  to  view  her  as  a  mighty  though 


AND  FAITHFULNESS  OF  GOD.  205 

complicated  machme,  all  whose  results  are  sure, 
and  all  whose  workings  are  invariable. 

But  there  is  enough  of  patent  and  palpable  reg- 
ulai'ity  in  Nature,  to  give  also  to  the  popular  mind, 
the  same  impression  of  her  constancy.  There  is 
a  gross  and  general  experience  that  teaches  the 
same  lesson,  and  that  has  lodged  in  every  bosom  a 
kind  of  secure  and  steadfast  confidence  in  the  uni- 
formity of  her  processes.  The  very  child  knows 
and  proceeds  upon  it.  He  is  aware  of  an  abiding 
character  and  property  in  the  elements  around  him 
— and  has  already  learned  as  much  of  the  fire,  and 
the  water,  and  the  food  that  he  eats,  and  the  firm 
ground  that  he  treads  upon,  and  even  of  the  gravita- 
tion by  which  he  must  regulate  his  postures  and  his 
movements,  as  to  prove,  that,  infant  though  he  be, 
he  is  fully  initiated  in  the  doctrine,  that  Nature 
has  her  laws  and  her  ordinances,  and  that  she  con- 
tinueth  therein.  And  the  proofs  of  this  are  ever 
multiplying  along  the  journey  of  human  observation: 
insomuch,  that  when  we  come  to  manhood,  we  read 
of  Nature's  constancy  throughout  every  department 
of  the  visible  world.  It  meets  us  wherever  we 
turn  our  eyes.  Both  the  day  and  the  night  bear 
witness  to  it.  The  silent  revolutions  of  the  firma- 
ment give  it  their  pure  testimony.  Even  those 
appearances  in  the  heavens,  at  which  superstition 
stood  aghast,  and  imagined  that  Nature  was  on  the 
eve  of  giving  way,  are  the  proudest  trophies  of  that 
stability  which  reigns  throughout  her  processes — 
of  that  unswerving  consistency  wherewith  she  pro- 
secutes all  her  movements.  And  the  lesson  that 
is  thus  held  forth  to  us  from  the  heavens  above,  is 


206       THE  CONSTANCY  OF  NATURE 

responded  to  by  the  earth  below;  just  as  the  tides 
of  ocean  wait  the  footsteps  of  the  moon,  and,  by  an 
attendance  kept  up  without  change  or  intermission 
for  thousands  of  years,  would  seem  to  connect  the 
regularity  of  earth  with  the  regularity  of  heaven. 
But,  apart  from  these  greater  and  simpler  energies, 
we  see  a  course  and  a  uniformity  everywhere.  We 
recognise  it  in  the  mysteries  of  vegetation.  We 
follow  it  through  the  successive  stages  of  growth, 
and  maturity,  and  decay,  both  in  plants  and  animals. 
We  discern  it  still  more  palpably  in  that  beautiful 
circulation  of  the  element  of  water,  as  it  rolls  its 
way  by  many  thousand  channels  to  the  ocean — 
and,  from  the  surface  of  this  expanded  reservoir, 
is  again  uplifted  to  the  higher  regions  of  the  atmo- 
sphere— and  is  there  dispersed  in  light  and  fleecy 
magazines  over  the  four  quarters  of  the  globe— 
and  at  length  accomplishes  its  orbit,  by  falling  in 
showers  on  a  world  that  waits  to  be  refreshed  by 
it.  And  all  goes  to  impress  us  with  the  regularity 
of  Nature,  which  in  fact  teems,  throughout  all  its 
varieties,  with  power,  and  principle,  and  uniform 
laws  of  operation — and  is  viewed  by  us  as  a  vast 
laboratory,  all  the  progressions  of  which  have  a 
rigid  and  unfailing  necessity  stamped  upon  them. 

Now,  this  contemplation  has  at  times  served  to 
foster  the  atheism  of  philosophers.  It  has  led 
them  to  deify  Nature,  and  to  make  her  immutability 
stand  in  the  place  of  God.  They  seem  imprest 
with  the  imagination,  that  had  the  Supreme  Cause 
been  a  Being  who  thinks,  and  wills,  and  acts  as 
man  does,  on  the  impulse  of  a  felt  and  a  present 
motive,  there  would  be  more  the  appearance  of 


AND  FAITHFULNESS  OF  GOD.  207 

spontaneous  activity,  and  less  of  mute  and  uncon- 
scious mechanism  in  the  administrations  of  the 
universe.  It  is  the  very  unchangeableness  of  Na- 
ture, and  the  steadfastness  of  those  great  and  mighty 
processes  wherewith  no  living-power  that  is  superior 
to  Nature,  and  is  able  to  shift  or  to  control  her,  is 
seen  to  interfere — it  is  this  which  seems  to  have 
imprest  the  notion  of  some  blind  and  eternal  fataUty 
on  certain  men  of  loftiest  but  deluded  genius.  And, 
accordingly,  in  France,  where  the  physical  sciences 
have,  of  late,  been  the  most  cultivated,  have  there 
also  been  the  most  daring  avowals  of  atheism.  The 
universe  has  been  affirmed  to  be  an  everlasting  and 
indestructible  effect;  and  from  the  abiding  constancy 
that  is  seen  in  Nature,  through  all  her  departments, 
have  they  inferred,  that  thus  it  has  always  been, 
and  that  thus  it  will  ever  be. 

But  this  atheistical  impression  that  is  derived 
from  the  constancy  of  Nature  is  not  peculiar  to  the 
disciples  of  philosophy.  It  is  the  familiar  and  the 
practical  impression  of  every-day  life.  The  world 
is  apprehended  to  move  on  steady  and  unvarying 
principles  of  its  own ;  and  these  secondary  causes 
have  usurped,  in  man's  estimation,  the  throne  of 
the  Divinity.  Nature  in  fact  is  personified  into 
God:  and  as  we  look  to  the  performance  of  a 
machine  without  thinking  of  its  maker, — so  the  very 
exactness  and  certainty,  wherewith  the  machinery 
of  creation  performs  its  evolutions,  has  thrown  a 
disguise  over  the  agency  of  the  Creator.  Should 
God  interpose  by  miracle,  or  interfere  by  some 
striking  and  special  manifestation  of  providence, 
then  man  is  awakened  to  the  recognition  of  him. 


208  THE  CONSTANCY  OF  NATURE 

But  he  loses  sight  of  the  Bemg  who  sits  behind 
these  visible  elements,  while  he  regards  those  attri- 
butes of  constancy  and  power  which  appear  in  the 
elements  themselves.  They  see  no  demonstration 
of  a  God,  and  they  feel  no  need  of  Him,  while  such 
unchanging,  and  such  unfailing  energy  continues 
to  operate  in  the  visible  world  around  them ;  and 
we  need  not  go  to  the  schools  of  ratiocination  in 
quest  of  this  infidelity,  but  may  detect  it  in  the 
bosoms  of  simple  and  unlettered  men,  who,  unknown 
to  themselves,  make  a  god  of  Nature,  and  just  be- 
cause of  Nature's  constancy ;  having  no  faith  in  the 
unseen  Spirit  who  originated  all  and  upholds  all, 
and  that,  because  all  things  continue  as  they  were 
from  the  beginning  of  the  Creation. 

Such  has  been  the  perverse  effect  of  Nature's 
constancy  on  the  alienated  mind  of  man ;  but  let  us 
now  attend  to  the  true  interpretation  of  it.  God 
has,  in  the  first  instance,  put  into  our  minds  a  dis- 
position to  count  on  the  uniformity  of  Nature, 
insomuch  that  we  universally  look  for  a  recurrence 
of  the  same  event  in  the  same  circumstances.  This 
is  not  merely  the  belief  of  experience,  but  the  belief 
of  instinct.  It  is  antecedent  to  all  the  findings 
of  observation,  and  may  be  exemplified  in  the 
earliest  stages  of  childhood.  The  infant  who  makes 
a  noise  on  the  table  with  his  hand,  for  the  first  time, 
anticipates  a  repetition  of  the  noise  from  a  repetition 
of  the  stroke,  with  as  much  confidence  as  he  who 
has  witnessed,  for  years  together,  the  unvariableness 
wherewith  these  two  terms  of  the  succession  have 
followed  each  other.  Or,  in  other  words,  God,  by 
putting  this  faith  into  every  human  creature,  and 


AND  FAITHFULNESS  OF  GOD.  209 

making  it  a  necessary  part  of  his  mental  constitu- 
tion, has  taught  hira  at  all  times  to  expect  the  like 
result  in  the  like  circumstances.  -He  has  thus 
virtually  told  him  what  is  to  happen,  and  what  he 
has  to  look  for  in  every  given  condition — and  by  its 
so  happening  accordingly,  He  just  makes  good  the 
veracity  of  His  own  declaration.  The  man  who 
leads  me  to  expect  that  which  he  fails  to  accomplish, 
I  would  hold  to  be  a  deceiver.  God  has  so  framed 
the  machinery  of  my  perceptions,  as  that  I  am  led 
irresistibly  to  expect,  that  everywhere  events  will 
follow  each  other  in  the  very  train  in  which  I  have 
ever  been  accustomed  to  observe  them — and  when 
God  so  sustains  the  uniformity  of  Nature,  that  in 
every  instance  it  is  rigidly  so.  He  is  just  manifesting 
the  faithfulness  of  his  character.  Were  it  otherwise, 
he  would  be  practising  a  mockery  on  the  expecta- 
tion which  He  Himself  had  inspired.  God  may 
be  said  to  have  promised  to  every  human  being, 
that  Nature  will  be  constant — if  not  by  the  whisper 
of  an  inward  voice  to  every  heart,  at  least  by  the 
force  of  an  uncontrollable  bias  which  He  has  im- 
pressed on  every  constitution.  So  that,  when  we 
behold  Nature  keeping  by  its  constancy,  we  behold 
the  God  of  Nature  keeping  by  His  faithfulness — 
and  the  system  of  visible  things,  with  its  general 
laws,  and  its  successions  which  are  invariable,  instead 
of  an  opaque  materialism  to  intercept  from  the  view 
of  mortals  the  face  of  the  Divinity,  becomes  the 
mirror  which  reflects  upon  them  the  truth  that  is 
unchangeable,  the  ordination  that  never  fails. 

Conceive  that  it  had  been  otherwise — first,  that 
man  had  no  faith  in  the  constancy  of  Nature — then 


210       THE  CONSTANCY  OF  NATURE 

how  could  all  his  experience  have  profited  him? 
How  could  he  have  applied  the  recollections  of  his 
past,  to  the  guidance  of  his  future  history  ?  And, 
what  would  have  been  left  to  signalize  the  wisdom 
of  mankind  above  that  of  veriest  infancy  ?  Or, 
suppose  that  he  had  the  implicit  faith  in  Nature's 
constancy,  but  that  Nature  was  wanting  in  the 
fulfilment  of  it — that  at  every  moment  his  intuitive 
reliance  on  this  constancy,  was  met  by  some  caprice 
or  waywardness  of  Nature,  which  thwarted  him 
in  all  his  undertakings — that,  instead  of  holding 
true  to  her  announcements,  she  held  the  children 
of  men  in  most  distressful  uncertainty,  by  the 
freaks  and  the  falsities  in  which  she  ever  indulged 
herself — and  that  every  design  of  human  foresight 
was  thus  hable  to  be  broken  up,  by  ever  and  anon 
the  putting  forth  of  some  new  fluctuation.  Tell 
us,  in  this  wild  misrule  of  elements  changing  their 
properties,  and  events  ever  flitting  from  one  method 
of  succession  to  another,  if  man  could  subsist  for  a 
single  day,  when  all  the  accomplishments  without, 
were  thus  at  war  with  all  the  hopes  and  calculations 
within.  In  such  a  chaos  and  conflict  as  this,  would 
not  the  foundations  of  human  wisdom  be  utterly 
subverted  ?  Would  not  man,  with  his  powerful 
and  perpetual  tendency  to  proceed  on  the  constancy 
of  Nature,  be  tempted,  at  all  times,  and  by  the 
very  constitution  of  his  being,  to  proceed  upon  a 
falsehood  ?  It  were  the  way,  in  fact,  to  turn  the  ad- 
ministration of  Nature  into  a  system  of  deceit.  The 
lessons  of  to-day,  would  be  falsified  by  the  events 
of  to-morrow.  He  were  indeed  the  father  of  lies 
who  would  be  the  author  of  such  a  regimen  as  this 


AND  FAITHFULNESS  OF  GOD.  211 

— and  well  may  we  rejoice  in  the  strict  order  of  the 
goodly  universe  which  we  inhabit,  and  regard  it  as 
a  noble  attestation  to  the  wisdom  and  beneficence 
of  its  great  Architect, 

But  it  is  more  especially  as  an  evidence  of  His 
truth,  that  the  constancy  of  Nature  is  adverted  to 
in  our  text.  It  is  of  His  faithfulness  unto  all 
generations  that  mention  is  there  made — and  for 
the  growth  and  the  discipline  of  your  piety,  we  know 
not  a  better  practical  habit  than  that  of  recogniz- 
ing the  unchangeable  truth  of  God,  throughout 
your  daily  and  hourly  experience  of  Nature's  un- 
changeableness.  Your  faith  in  it  is  of  His  working 
— and  what  a  condition  would  you  have  been  reduc- 
ed to,  had  the  faith  which  is  within,  not  been  met 
by  an  entire  and  unexpected  accordancy  with  the 
fidfilments  that  are  without !  He  has  not  told  you 
what  to  expect  by  the  utterance  of  a  voice — but 
He  has  taught  you  what  to  expect  by  the  leadings 
and  the  intimations  of  a  strong  constitutional 
tendency — and,  in  virtue  of  this,  there  is  not  a  hu- 
man creature  who  does  not  believe,  and  almost  as 
firmly  as  in  his  own  existence,  that  fire  will  continue 
to  burn,  and  w^ater  to  cool,  and  matter  to  resist, 
and  unsupported  bodies  to  fall,  and  ocean  to  bear 
the  adventurous  vessel  upon  its  surface,  and  the 
solid  earth  to  uphold  the  tread  of  his  footsteps ; 
and  that  spring  will  appear  again  in  her  wonted 
smiles,  and  summer  will  glow  into  heat  and  brilli- 
ancy, and  autumn  will  put  on  the  same  luxuriance 
as  before,  and  winter,  at  its  stated  periods,  revisit 
the  world  with  her  darkness  and  her  storms.  We 
cannot  sum  up  these  countless  varieties  of  Nature ; 


tiV2  THE  CONSTANCY  OF  NATURE 

but  the  firm  expectation  is,  that  throughout  them 
all,  as  she  has  been  estabhshed,  so  she  will  abide 
to  the  day  of  her  final  dissolution.  And  we  call  upon 
you  to  recognize  in  Nature's  constancy,  the  answer 
of  Nature's  God  to  this  expectation.  All  these 
material  agents  are,  in  fact,  the  organs  by  which 
He  expresses  His  faithfulness  to  the  world ;  and  that 
unveering  generality  which  reigns  and  continues 
everywhere,  is  but  the  perpetual  demonstration  of 
a  truth  that  never  varies,  as  well  as  of  laws  that 
never  are  rescinded.  It  is  for  us,  that  He  upholds 
the  world  in  all  its  regularity.  It  is  for  us,  that 
He  sustains  so  linviolably  the  march  and  the  move- 
ment of  those  innumerable  progressions,  which  are 
going  on  around  us.  It  is  in  remembrance  of  His 
promises  to  us,  that  he  meets  all  our  anticipations 
of  Nature's  uniformity,  with  the  evolutions  of  a 
law  that  is  unalterable.  It  is  because  He  is  a  God 
that  cannot  lie,  that  He  will  make  no  invasion  on 
that  wondrous  correspondency  which  he  himself 
hath  instituted  between  the  world  that  is  without, 
and  our  little  world  of  hopes,  and  projects,  and  an- 
ticipations that  are  within.  By  the  constancy  of 
Nature,  He  hath  imprinted  upon  it  the  lesson  of 
His  own  constancy — and  that  very  characteristic 
wherewith  some  would  fortify  the  ungodliness  of 
their  hearts,  is  the  most  impressive  exhibition  which 
can  be  given  of  God,  as  always  faithful,  and  always 
the  same. 

This,  then,  is  the  real  character  which  the  con- 
stancy of  Nature  should  lead  us  to  assign  to  Him 
who  is  the  Author  of  it.  In  every  human  under^ 
standing.  He  hath  planted  a  universal  instinct,  by 


AND  FAITHFULNESS  OF  GOD.  213 

which  all  are  led  to  believe,  that  Nature  will  perse- 
vere in  her  wonted  courses,  and  that  each  succession 
of  cause  and  effect  which  has  been  observed  by  us 
in  the  time   that  is  past,   will,    while  the  world 
exists,  be  kept  up  invariably,  and  recur  in  the  very 
same  order  through  the  time  that  is  to  come.  This 
constancy,  then,  is  as  good  as  a  promise  that  He 
has  made  unto  all  men,  and  all  that  is  around  us 
on  earth  or  in  heaven,  proves  how  inflexibly  the 
promise  is  adhered  to.      The  chemist  in  his  labor- 
atory, as  he  questions  Nature,  may  be  almost  said 
to  put  her  to  the  torture,  when  tried  in  his  hottest 
furnace,  or  probed  by  his  searching  analysis,  to 
her  innermost  arcana,  she  by  a  spark  or  an  explo- 
sion, or  an  eff'ervescence,  or  an  evolving  substance, 
makes  her  distinct  replies  to  his  investigations.  And 
he  repeats  her  answer  to  all  his  fellows  in  philos- 
ophy, and  they  meet  in  academic  state  and  judg- 
ment to  reiterate  the  question,  and  in  every  quarter 
of  the  globe  her  answer  is  the  same — so  that,  let 
the  experiment,  though  a  thousand  times  repeated, 
only  be  alike  in  all  its  circumstances,  the  result 
which  Cometh  forth  is  as  rigidly  alike,  w^ithout  de- 
ficiency, and  without  deviation.  We  know  how  possi- 
ble it  is  for  these  worshippers  at  the  footstool  of 
science,  to  make  a  divinity  of  matter;  and  that  every 
new  discovery  of  her  secrets,  should  only  rivet  them 
more  devotedly  to  her  throne.    But  there  is  a  God 
who  liveth  and  sitteth  there,  and  these  unvarying  re- 
sponses of  Nature,  are  all  prompted  by  himself,  and 
are  but  the  utterances  of  His  immutability.    They 
are  the  replies  of  a  God  who  never  changes,  and  who 
hath  adapted  the  whole  materialism  of  creation  to  the 


214  THE  CONSTANCY  OF  NATURE 

constitution  of  every  mind  that  He  hath  sent  forth 
upon  it.  And  to  meet  the  expectation  which  He 
himself  hath  given  of  Nature's  constancy,  is  He  at 
each  successive  instant  of  time,  vigilant  and  ready 
in  every  part  of  His  vast  dominions,  to  hold  out  to 
the  eye  of  all  observers,  the  perpetual  and  unfailing 
demonstration  of  it.  The  certainties  of  Nature 
and  of  Science,  are  in  fact  the  vocables  by  which 
God  announces  His  truth  to  the  world — and  when 
told  how  impossible  it  is,  that  nature  can  fluctuate, 
we  are  only  told  how  impossible  it  is  that  the  God 
of  Nature  can  deceive  us. 

The  doctrine  that  Nature  is  constant  when  thus 
related,  as  it  ought  to  be,  with  the  doctrine  that 
God  is  true,  might  well  strengthen  our  confidence 
in  Him  anew  with  every  new  experience  of  our 
history.  There  is  not  an  hour  or  a  moment,  in 
which  we  may  not  verify  the  one — and,  therefore, 
not  an  hour  or  a  moment  in  which  we  may  not  in- 
vigorate the  other.  Every  touch,  and  every  look, 
and  every  taste,  and  every  act  of  converse  between 
our  senses  and  the  things  that  are  without,  brings 
home  a  new  demonstration  of  the  steadfastness  of 
Nature,  and  along  with  it  a  new  demonstration 
both  of  His  steadfastness  and  of  His  faithfulness, 
who  is  the  Governor  of  Nature.  And  the  same 
lesson  may  be  fetched  from  times  and  from  places, 
that  are  far  beyond  the  limits  of  our  own  personal 
history.  It  can  be  drawn  from  the  retrospect  of 
past  ages,  where,  fi'om  the  unvaried  currency  of 
those  very  processes  which  we  now  behold,  we  may 
learn  the  stability  of  all  His  ways,  whose  goings 
forth  are  of  old,  and  from  everlasting.     It  can  be 


AND  FAITHFULNESS   OF  GOD.  215 

gathered  from  the  most  distant  extremities  of  the 
earth,  where  Nature  reigns  with  the  same  unweari- 
ed constancy,  as  it  does  around  us — and  where 
savages  count  as  we  do  on  a  uniformity,  from  which 
she  never  falters.  The  lesson  is  commensurate 
with  the  whole  system  of  things — and  with  an 
effulgence  as  broad  as  the  face  of  creation,  and  as 
clear  as  the  light  which  is  poured  over  it,  does  it 
at  once  tell  that  Nature  is  unchangeably  constant, 
and  that  God  is  unchangeably  true. 

And  so  it  is,  that  in  our  text  there  are  present- 
ed together,  as  if  there  was  a  tie  of  likeness  between 
them— that  the  same  God  who  is  fixed  as  to  the  or- 
dinances of  Nature,  is  faithful  as  to  the  declarations 
of  His  word;  and  as  all  experience  proves  how 
firmly  He  may  be  trusted  for  the  one,  so  is  there 
an  argument  as  strong  as  experience,  to  prove  how 
firmly  He  may  be  trusted  for  the  other.  By  his 
work  in  us.  He  hath  awakened  the  expectation  of 
a  constancy  in  Nature,  which  He  never  disappoints. 
By  His  word  to  us,  should  He  awaken  the  expect- 
ation of  a  certainty  in  His  declarations,  this  he  will 
never  disappoint.  It  is  because  Nature  is  so  fixed, 
that  we  apprehend  the  God  of  Nature  to  be  so 
faithful.  He  who  never  falsifies  the  hope  that  hath 
arisen  in  every  bosom,  from  the  instinct  which  He 
Himself  hath  communicated,  will  never  falsify  the 
hope  that  shall  arise  in  any  bosom  from  the  express 
utterance  of  His  voice.  Were  He  a  God  in  whose 
hand  the  processes  of  Nature  were  ever  shifting, 
then  might  we  conceive  Him  a  God  from  whose 
mouth  the  proclamations  of  grace  had  the  like  char- 
acters of  variance  and  vacillation.     But  it  is  jus^ 


216        THE  CONSTANCY  OF  NATURE 

because  of  our  reliance  on  the  one,  that  we  feel  so 
much  of  repose  m  our  dependence  upon  the  other 
— and  the  same  God  who  is  so  unfailing  in  the  or- 
dinances of  His  creation,  do  we  hold  to  be  equally 
unfailing  in  the  ordinances  of  His  word. 

And  it  is  strikingly  accordant  with  these  views, 
that  Nature  never  has  been  known  to  recede  from 
her  constancy,  but  for  the  purpose  of  giving  place  and 
demonstration  to  the  authority  of  the  word.  Once, 
in  a  season  of  miracle,  did  the  word  take  the  pre- 
cedency of  Nature,  but  ever  since  hath  Nature 
resumed  her  courses,  and  is  now  proving,  by  her 
steadfastness,  the  authority  of  that,  which  she  then 
proved  to  be  authentic  by  her  deviations.  When 
the  word  was  first  ushered  in.  Nature  gave  way 
for  a  period,  after  which  she  moves  in  her  wonted 
order,  till  the  present  system  of  things  shall  pass 
away,  and  that  faith  which  is  now  upholden  by 
Nature's  constancy,  shall  then  receive  its  accom- 
plishment at  Nature's  dissolution.  And  O  how 
God  magnifieth  His  word  above  all  His  name, 
when  He  tells  thatheaven  and  earth  shall  pass  away, 
but  tliat  His  word  shall  not  pass  away — and  that 
while  His  creation  shall  become  a  wreck,  not  one  jot 
or  one  tittle  of  His  testimony  shall  fail.  The  world 
passeth  awaj^ — but  the  word  endureth  for  ever — 
and  if  the  faithfulness  of  God  stand  forth  so  legibly 
on  the  face  of  the  temporary  world,  how  surely  may 
we  reckon  on  the  faithfulness  of  that  word,  which 
has  a  vastly  higher  place  in  the  counsels  and  fulfil- 
ments of  eternity  ? 

The  argument  may  not  be  comprehended  by  all; 
but  it  will  not  be  lost,  should  it  lead  any  to  feel  a 


AND  FAITHFULNESS  OF  GOD.  217 

more  emphatic  certainty  and  meaning  than  before 
in  the  declarations  of  the  Bible — and  to  conclude, 
that  He,  ^vho  for  ages,  hath  stood  so  fixed  to  ail 
His  plans  and  purposes  in  Nature,  will  stand  equally 
fixed  to  all  that  He  proclaims,  and  to  all  that  He 
promises  in  Revelation.  To  be  in  the  hands  of 
such  a  God,  might  well  strike  a  terror  into  the 
hearts  of  the  guilty — and  that  unrelenting  death 
which,  with  all  the  sureness  of  an  immutable  law,  is 
seen,  before  our  eyes,  to  seize  upon  every  individ- 
ual of  every  species  of  our  world,  full  well  evinces 
how  He,  the  uncompromising  Lawgiver,  will  execute 
every  utterance  that  He  has  made  against  the  children 
of  iniquity.  And,  on  the  other  hand,  how  this  very 
contemplation  ought  to  encourage  all  who  are  look- 
ing to  the  announcements  of  the  same  God  in  the 
Gospel,  and  who  perceive  that  there  He  has  embark- 
ed the  same  truth,  and  the  same  unchangeableness, 
on  the  offers  of  mercy.  All  Nature  gives  testimony 
to  this,  that  He  cannot  lie — and  seeing  that  He  has 
stamped  such  enduring  properties  on  the  elements 
even  of  our  perishable  world,  never  should  I  falter 
from  that  confidence  which  He  hath  taught  me  to 
feel,  when  I  think  of  that  property  wherewith  the 
blood  which  was  shed  for  me,  cleanseth  from  all  sin  ; 
and  of  that  property  wherewith  the  body  which  was 
broken,  beareth  the  burden  of  all  its  penalties.  He 
who  hath  so  nobly  met  the  faith  that  He  has  given 
unto  all  in  the  constancy  of  Nature,  by  a  uniformity 
which  knows  no  abatement,  will  meet  the  faith 
that  He  has  given  unto  any  in  the  certainty  of 
grace,  by  a  fulfilment  unto  every  believer,  whi^ 
knows  no  exception. 

VOL.  VII.  K 


218  THE  CONSTANCY  OF  NATURE 

And  it  is  well  to  remark  the  difference  that  there 
is  between  the  explanation  given  in  the  text,  of 
Nature's  constancy,  and  the  impression  which  the 
mere  students  or  disciples  of  Nature  have  of  it. 
It  is  because  of  her  constancy  that  they  have  been 
led  to  invest  her,  as  it  were,  in  properties  of  her 
own ;  that  they  have  given  a  kind  of  independent 
power  and  stability  to  matter ;  that  in  the  various 
energies  which  lie  scattered  over  the  field  of  visible 
contemplation,  they  see  a  native  inherent  virtue, 
which  never  for  a  single  moment  is  slackened  or 
suspended — and  therefore  imagine,  that  as  no  force 
from  without  seems  necessary  to  sustain,  so  as  little, 
perhaps,  is  there  need  for  any  such  force  from  with- 
out to  originate.  The  mechanical  certainty  of  all 
Nature's  processes,  as  it  appears  in  their  eyes  to 
supersede  the  demand  for  any  upholding  agency, 
so  does  it  also  supersede,  in  the  silent  imaginations 
of  many,  and  according  to  the  express  and  bold 
avowals  of  some,  the  demand  for  any  creative  agency. 
It  is  thus,  that  Nature  is  raised  into  a  divinity,  and 
has  been  made  to  reign  over  all,  in  the  state  and  ju- 
risdiction of  an  eternal  fatalism;  and  proud  Science, 
which  by  wisdom  knoweth  not  God,  hath,  in  her 
march  of  discovery,  seized  upon  the  invariable 
certainties  of  Nature,  those  highest  characteristics 
of  His  authority  and  wisdom  and  truth,  as  the 
instruments  by  which  to  disprove  and  to  dethrone 
him. 

Now  compare  this  interpretation  of  monstrous 
and  melancholy  atheism,  with  that  which  the  Bible 
gives,  why  all  things  move  so  invariably.  It  is 
because  that  all  are  thy  servants.      It  is  because 


XmO  FAITHFULNESS  OF  GOD.  2UJ 

they  are  all  under  the  bidding  of  a  God  who  has 
purposes  from  which  He  never  falters,  and  hath 
issued  promises  from  which  He  never  fails.  It  is 
because  the  arrangements  of  His  vast  and  capacious 
household  are  already  ordered  for  the  best,  and  all 
the  elements  of  Nature  are  the  ministers  by  which 
He  fulfils  them.  That  is  the  master  who  has  most 
honour  and  obedience  from  his  domestics,  through- 
out all  whose  ordinations,  there  runs  a  consistency 
from  which  He  never  deviates;  and  He  best  sustains 
His  dignity  in  the  midst  of  them,  who,  by  mild  but 
resistless  sway,  can  regulate  the  successions  of 
every  hour,  and  affix  His  sure  and  appropriate 
service  to  every  member  of  the  family.  It  is  when 
we  see  all,  in  any  given  time,  at  their  respective 
places,  and  each  distinct  period  of  the  day  having 
its  own  distinct  evolution  of  business  or  recreation, 
that  we  infer  the  wisdom  of  the  instituted  govern- 
ment, and  how  irrevocable  the  sanctions  are  by 
which  it  is  upholden.  The  vexatious  alternations 
of  command  and  of  countermand;  the  endless  fancies 
of  humour,  and  caprice,  and  waywardness,  which 
ever  and  anon  break  forth,  to  the  total  overthrow 
of  system ;  the  perpetual  innovations  which  none 
do  foresee,  and  for  which  none,  therefore,  can  pos- 
sibly be  prepared — these  are  not  more  harassing  to 
the  subject,  than  they  are  disparaging  to  the  truth 
and  authority  of  the  superior.  It  is  in  the  bosom 
of  a  well-conducted  family,  where  you  witness  the 
sure  dispensation  of  all  the  reward  and  encourage- 
ment which  have  been  promised,  and  the  unfailing 
execution  of  the  disgrace  and  the  dismissal  that  are 
held  forth  to  obstinate  disobedience.     Now  those 


220  THE  CONSTANCY  OV  ^3  ATIJRE 

very  qualities  of  whicli  this  uniformity  is  the  test 
and  the  characteristic  in  the  government  of  any 
human  society,  of  these  also  is  it  the  test  and  the 
characteristic  in  the  government  of  Nature.  It 
bespeaks  the  wisdom,  and  the  authority,  and  the 
truth  of  Him  who  framed  and  who  administers. 
Let  there  be  a  King  eternal,  immortal,  and  invisible, 
and  let  this  universe  be  His  empire — and  in  all  the 
rounds  of  its  complex  but  unerring  mechanism,  do 
I  recognize  him  as  the  only  wise  God.  In  the 
constancy  of  Nature,  do  I  read  the  constancy  and 
truth  of  that  great  master  Spirit,  who  hath  imprint- 
ed His  own  character  on  all  that  hath  emanated 
from  His  power ;  and  when  told  that  throughout 
the  mighty  lapse  of  centuries,  all  the  courses  both 
of  earth  and  of  heaven,  have  been  upholden  as 
before,  I  only  recognize  the  footsteps  of  Him  who 
is  ever  the  same,  and  whose  faithfulness  is  unto  all 
generations.  That  perpetuity,  and  order,  and  an- 
cient law  of  succession,  which  have  subsisted  so 
long,  throughout  the  wide  diversity  of  things,  bear 
witness  to  the  Lord  of  hosts,  as  still  at  the  head  of 
His  well-marshalled  family.  The  present  age  is 
only  re-echoing  the  lesson  of  all  past  ages — and 
that  spectacle,  which  has  misled  those  who  by 
wisdom  know  not  God,  into  dreary  atheism,  has 
enhanced  every  demonstration  both  of  his  veracity 
and  power,  to  all  intelligent  worshippers.  We 
know  that  all  things  continue  as  they  were  from 
the  beo^inninf?  of  creation.  We  know  that  the  whole 
of  surrounding  materialism  stands  forth,  to  this  very 
hour,  in  all  the  inflexibility  of  her  wonted  characters. 
We  know  that  heaven,  and  earth,  and  sea,  still 


AND  FAITHFULNESS  OF  GOD.  221 

discharge  the  same  functions,  and  subserve  the  very- 
same  beneficent  processes.  We  know  that  astron- 
omy pUes  the  same  rounds  as  before,  that  the  cycles 
of  the  firmament  move  in  their  old  and  appointed 
order,  and  that  the  year  circulates,  as  it  has  ever 
done,  in  grateful  variety,  over  the  face  of  an  ex- 
pectant world — but  only  because  all  are  of  God, 
and  they  continue  this  day  according  to  His  ordin- 
ances— for  all  are  His  servants. 

Now  it  is  just  because  the  successions  which  take 
place  in  the  economy  of  Nature,  are  so  invariable, 
that  we  should  expect  the  successions  which  take 
place  in  the  economy  of  God's  moral  government 
to  be  equally  invariable.  That  expectation  which 
He  never  disappoints  when  it  is  the  fruit  of  a 
universal  instinct.  He  surely  will  never  disappoint 
when  it  is  the  fruit  of  His  own  express  and  imme 
diate  revelation.  If  because  God  hath  so  established 
it,  it  Cometh  to  pass,  then  of  whatsoever  it  may 
be  affirmed  that  God  hath  so  said  it,  it  will  come 
equally  to  pass.  I  should  certainly  look  for  the 
same  character  in  the  administrations  of  His  special 
grace,  that  I,  at  all  times,  witness  in  the  admini- 
strations of  His  ordinary  providence.  If  I  see  in 
the  system  of  His  world,  that  the  law  by  which  two 
events  follow  each  other,  gives  rise  to  a  connection 
between  them  that  never  is  dissolved,  then  should 
He  say  in  his  word,  that  there  are  certain  invariable 
methods  of  succession,  in  virtue  of  which,  when  the 
first  term  of  it  occurs,  the  second  is  sure  at  all  times 
to  follow,  I  should  be  very  sure  in  my  anticipationsg 
that  it  will  indeed  be  most  punctually  and  most 
rigidly  so.    It  is  thus,  that  the  constancy  of  Nature 


222  THE  CONSTA^'CY  OF  NATURE 

is  in  fullest  harmony  with  the  authority  of  Revela- 
tion— and  that,  when  fresh  from  the  contemplation 
of  the  one,  I  would  listen  with  most  implicit  faith 
to  all  the  announcements  of  the  other. 

When  we  behold  all  to  be  so  sure  and  settled  in 
the  works  of  God,  then  may  we  look  for  all  being 
equally  sure  and  settled  in  the  word  of  God.  Philo- 
sophy hath  never  yet  detected  one  iota  of  deviation 
from  the  ordinances  of  Nature — and  never,  there- 
fore, may  we  conclude,  shall  the  experience  either 
of  past  or  future  ages,  detect  one  iota  of  deviation 
from  the  ordinances  of  Revelation.  He  who  so 
pointedly  adheres  to  every  plan  that  He  hath  es- 
tablished in  creation,  will  as  pointedly  adhere  to 
every  proclamation  that  He  hath  uttered  in  Scrip- 
ture. There  is  nought  of  the  fast  and  loose  in 
any  of  His  processes — and  whether  in  the  terrible 
denunciations  of  Sinai,  or  those  mild  proffers  of 
mercy  that  were  sounded  forth  upon  the  world 
through  Messiah,  who  upholdeth  all  things  by  the 
word  of  His  power,  shall  we  alike  experience  that 
God  is  not  to  be  mocked,  and  that  with  Him  there 
is  no  variableness,  neither  shadow  of  turning. 

With  this  certainty,  then,  upon  our  spirits,  let 
us  now  look  not  to  the  successions  which  He  hath 
instituted  in  Nature,  but  to  the  successions  which 
he  hath  announced  to  us  in  the  word  of  His  testi- 
mony— and  let  us,  while  so  doing,  fix  and  solemnize 
our  thoughts  by  the  consideration,  that  as  God  hath 
said  it,  so  will  He  do  it. 

The  first  of  these  successions,  then,  on  which 
we  may  count  infallibly,  is  that  which  He  hath  pro- 
claimed between  sin  and  punishment.      The  soul 


AND  FAITHFULNESS  OF  GOD.  223 

that  sinneth  it  shall  die.  And  here  there  is  a 
common  ground  on  which  the  certainties  of  divine 
revelation  meet  and  are  at  one  with  the  certainties 
of  human  experience.  We  are  told  in  the  Bible,  that 
all  have  sinned,  and  that,  therefore,  death  hath 
passed  upon  all  men.  The  connection  between 
these  two  terms  is  announced  in  Scripture  to  be 
mvariable — and  all  observation  tells  us,  that  it  is 
even  so.  Such  was  the  sentence  uttered  in  the 
hearing  of  our  first  parents ;  and  all  history  can 
attest  how  God  hath  kept  by  the  word  of  His 
threatening — and  how  this  law  of  jurisprudence 
from  heaven  is  realized  before  us  upon  earth,  with 
all  the  certainty  of  a  law  of  Nature.  The  death 
of  man  is  just  as  stable  and  as  essential  a  part  of 
his  physiology,  as  are  his  birth,  or  his  expansion, 
or  his  maturity,  or  his  decay.  It  looks  as  much  a 
thing  of  organic  necessity,  as  a  thing  of  arbitrary 
institution — and  here  do  we  see  blended  into  one 
exhibition,  a  certainty  of  the  divine  word  that  never 
fails,  and  a  constancy  in  Nature  that  never  is 
departed  from.  It  is  indeed  a  striking  accordancy 
that  what  in  one  view  of  it  appears  to  be  a  uniform 
process  of  Nature,  in  another  view  of  it,  is  but  the 
unrelenting  execution  of  a  dread  utterance  from  the 
God  of  Nature.  From  this  contemplation  may  we 
gather,  that  God  is  as  certain  in  all  His  words,  as 
he  is  constant  in  all  His  ways.  Men  can  philo- 
sophize on  the  diseases  of  the  human  system — and 
the  laborious  treatise  can  be  written  on  the  class, 
and  the  character,  and  the  symptoms,  of  each  of 
them — and  in  our  halls  of  learning,  the  ample  de- 
monstration can  be  given,  and  disciples  may  be 


224  THE  CONSTANCY  OF  NATURE 

taught  how  to  judge  and  to  prognosticate,  and  in 
what  appearances  to  read  the  fell  precursors  of 
mortality — and  death  has  so  taken  up  its  settled 
place  among  the  immutabilities  of  Nature,  that  it 
is  as  familiarly  treated  in  the  lecture-rooms  of 
science,  as  any  other  phenomena  which  Nature 
has  to  offer  for  the  exercise  of  the  human  under- 
standing. And,  O  how  often  are  the  smile  and  the 
stoutness  of  infidelity  seen  to  mingle  with  this  ap- 
palling contemplation — and  how  little  wdll  its  hardy 
professors  bear  to  be  told,  that  what  gives  so  dread 
a  certainty  to  their  speculation  is,  that  the  God  of 
Nature  and  the  God  of  the  Bible,  are  one — that 
when  they  describe,  in  lofty  nomenclature,  the  path 
of  dying  humanity,  they  only  describe  the  way  in 
which  He  fulfils  upon  it  His  irrevocable  denunci- 
ation— that  He  is  but  doing  now  to  the  posterity 
of  Adam  what  He  told  to  Adam  himself  on  his  ex- 
pulsion from  paradise — and  that,  if  the  universality 
of  death  prove  how  every  law  in  the  physics  of 
creation  is  sure,  it  just  as  impressively  proves,  how 
every  word  of  God's  immediate  utterance  to  man, 
or  how  every  word  of  prophecy  is  equally  sure. 

And  in  every  instance  of  mortality  which  you 
are  called  to  witness,  do  we  call  upon  you  to  read 
in  it  the  intolerance  of  God  for  sin,  and  how  un- 
sparingly and  unrelentingly  it  is,  that  God  carries 
into  effect  His  every  utterance  against  it.  The 
connection  which  He  hath  instituted  between  the 
two  terms  of  sin  and  of  death,  should  lead  you 
from  every  appeal  that  is  made  to  your  senses  by 
the  one,  to  feel  the  force  of  an  appeal  to  your 
conscience  by  the  other.     It  proves  the  hatefulness 


AND  FAITHFULNESS  OF  GOD.  225 

of  sin  to  God,  and  it  also  proves  with  what  unfalter- 
ing constancy  God  will  prosecute  every  threat, 
until  He  hath  made  an  utter  extirpation  of  sin  from 
His  presence.  There  is  nought  which  can  make 
more  palpable  the  way  in  which  God  keeps  every 
saying  in  His  perpetual  remembrance,  and  as  sure- 
ly proceeds  upon  it,  than  doth  this  universal  plague 
wherewith  He  hath  smitten  every  individual  of  our 
species,  and  carries  off  its  successive  generations 
from  a  world  that  sprung  from  His  hand  in  all  the 
bloom  and  vigour  of  immortality.  When  death 
makes  entrance  upon  a  family,  and,  perhaps,  seizes 
on  that  one  member  of  it,  all  whose  actual  trans- 
gressions might  be  summed  up  in  the  out  breakings 
of  an  occasional  waywardness,  wherewith  the  smiles 
of  infant  gaiety  were  chequered — still  how  it  de- 
monstrates the  unbending  purposes  of  God  against 
our  present  accursed  nature,  that  in  some  one  or 
other  of  its  varieties,  every  specimen  must  die. 
And  so  it  is,  that  from  one  age  to  another.  He 
makes  open  manifestation  to  the  world,  that  every 
utterance  which  hath  fallen  from  him  is  sure  ;  and 
that  ocular  proof  is  given  to  the  character  of  Him 
who  is  a  Spirit,  and  is  invisible ;  and  that  sense 
lends  its  testimony  to  the  truth  of  God,  and  the 
truth  of  His  Scripture;  and  that  Nature,  when 
rightly  viewed,  instead  of  placing  its  inquirers  at 
atheistical  variance  with  the  Being  who  upholds  it, 
holds  out  to  us  the  most  impressive  commentary 
that  can  be  given,  on  the  reverence  which  is  due  to 
all  His  communications,  even  by  demonstrating, 
that  faith  in  His  word  is  at  unison  with  the  findings 
of  our  daily  observation. 

k2 


226  THE  CONSTANCY  OF  NATURE 

But  God  hath  further  said  of  sm  and  of  its  con- 
sequences, what  no  observation  of  ours  has  yet  re- 
aUzed.  He  hath  told  us  of  the  judgment  that 
cometh  after  death,  and  He  hath  told  us  of  the  two 
diverse  paths  which  lead  from  the  judgment-seat 
unto  eternity.  Of  these  we  have  not  yet  seen  the 
verification,  yet  surely  we  have  now  seen  enough 
to  prepare  us  for  the  unfailing  accomplishment  of 
every  utterance  that  cometh  from  the  lips  of  God. 
The  unexcepted  death  which  we  know  cometh 
upon  all  men,  for  that  all  have  sinned,  might  well 
convince  us  of  the  certainty  of  that  second  death 
which  is  threatened  upon  all  who  turn  not  from  sin 
unto  the  Saviour.  There  is  an  indissoluble  suc- 
cession here  between  our  sinning  and  our  dying — 
and  we  ought  now  to  be  so  aware  of  God  as  a  God 
of  precise  and  peremptory  execution,  as  to  look 
upon  the  succession  being  equally  indissoluble,  be- 
tween our  dying  in  sin  now,  and  rising  to  everlast- 
ing condemnation  hereafter.  The  sinner  who 
wraps  himself  in  delusive  security — and  that,  be- 
cause all  things  continue  as  they  have  done,  does 
not  reflect  of  this  very  characteristic,  that  it  is 
indeed  the  most  awful  proof  of  God's  immutable 
counsels,  and  to  himself  the  most  tremendous  pre- 
sage of  all  the  ruin  and  wretchedness  which  have 
been  denounced  upon  him.  The  spectacle  of 
uniformity  that  is  before  his  eyes,  only  goes  to  as- 
certain that  as  God  hath  purposed,  so,  without 
vacillation  or  inconstancy,  will  he  ever  perform.  He 
hath  already  given  a  sample,  or  an  earnest  of  this,  in 
the  awful  ravages  of  death  ;  and  we  ask  the  sinner 
to  behold,  in  the  ever-recurring  spectacle  of  moving 


AND  FAITHFULNESS  OF  GOD.  227 

funerals,  and  desolated  families,  the  token  of  that 
still  deeper  perdition  which  awaits  him.  Let  him 
not  think  that  the  God  who  deals  His  relentless 
inflictions  here  on  every  son  and  daughter  of  the 
species,  will  falter  there  from  the  work  of  vengeance 
that  shall  then  descend  on  the  heads  of  the  impen- 
itent. O  how  deceived  then  are  all  those  ungodly, 
who  have  been  building  to  themselves  a  safety  and 
an  exemption  on  the  perpetuity  of  Nature  !  All  the 
perpetuity  which  they  have  witnessed,  is  the  pledge 
of  a  God  who  is  unchangeable — and  who,  true  to 
His  threatening  as  to  every  other  utterance  which 
passes  his  lips,  hath  said,  in  the  hearing  of  men  and 
of  angels,  that  the  soul  which  is  in  sin  shall  perish. 
But,  secondly,  there  is  another  succession  an- 
nounced to  us  in  Scripture,  and  on  the  certainty 
of  which  we  may  place  as  firm  a  reliance  as  on  any 
of  the  observed  successions  of  Nature — even  that 
which  obtains  between  faith  and  salvation.  He 
who  believeth  in  Christ,  shall  not  perish,  but  shall 
have  life  everlasting.  The  same  truth  which  God 
hath  embarked  on  the  declarations  of  His  wrath 
against  the  impenitent.  He  hath  also  embarked  on 
the  declarations  of  His  mercy  to  the  believer. 
There  is  a  law  of  continuity,  as  unfaihng  as  any 
series  of  events  in  Nature,  that  binds  with  the 
present  state  of  an  obstinate  sinner  upon  earth,  all 
the  horrors  of  his  future  wretchedness  in  hell — but 
there  is  also  another  law  of  continuity  just  as  un- 
failing, that  binds  the  present  state  of  him  who 
putteth  faith  in  Christ  here,  with  the  triumphs  and 
the  transports  of  his  coming  glory  hereafter.  And 
thus  it  is,  that  what  we  read  of  God's  constancy  in 


228  THE  CONSTARCT  OF  NATURE 

the  book  of  Nature,  may  well  strengthen  our  every 
assurance  in  the  promises  of  the  Gospel.  It  is  not 
in  the  recurrence  of  winter  alone,  audits  desolations, 
that  God  manifests  His  adherence  to  estabhshed 
processes.  There  are  many  periodic  evolutions  of 
the  bright  and  the  beautiful  along  the  march  of  His 
administrations — as  the  dawn  of  morn;  and  the 
grateful  access  of  spring,  with  its  many  hues,  and 
odours,  and  melodies  ;  and  the  ripened  abundance 
of  harvest ;  and  that  glorious  arch  of  heaven,  which 
Science  hath  now  appropriated  as  her  own,  but 
which  nevertheless  is  placed  there  by  God  as  the 
unfailing  token  of  a  sunshine  already  begun,  and  a 
storm  now  ended — all  these  come  forth  at  appoint- 
ed seasons,  in  a  consecutive  order,  yet  mark  the 
footsteps  of  a  beneficent  Deity.  And  so  the 
economy  of  grace  has  its  regular  successions,  which 
carry  however  a  blessing  in  their  train.  The  faith 
in  Christ,  to  which  we  are  invited  upon  earth,  has 
its  sure  result,  and  its  landing-place  in  heaven — 
and  just  with  as  unerring  certainty  as  we  behold 
in  the  courses  of  the  firmament,  will  it  be  followed 
up  by  a  life  of  virtue,  and  a  death  of  hope,  and  a 
resurrection  of  joyfulness,  and  a  voice  of  welcome 
at  the  judgment-seat,  and  a  bright  ascent  into  fields 
of  ethereal  blessedness,  and  an  entrance  upon  glory, 
and  a  perpetual  occupation  in  the  city  of  the  living 
God. 

To  all  men  hath  He  given  a  faith  in  the  con- 
stancy of  Nature,  and  He  never  disappoints  it. 
To  some  men  hath  He  given  a  faith  in  the  promises 
of  the  Gospel,  and  He  is  ready  to  bestow  it  upon 
all  who  ask,  or  to  perfect  that  which  is  lacking  in 


and'faithfulness  of'god.  229 

it — and  the  one  faith  will  as  surely  meet  with  its- 
corresponding  fulfilment  as  the  other.  The  invari- 
ableness  that  reigns  throughout  the  kingdom  of 
Nature,  guarantees  the  like  invariableness  in  the 
kingdom  of  grace.  He  who  is  steadfast  to  all  His 
appointments,  will  be  true  to  all  His  declarations — 
and  those  very  exhibitions  of  a  strict  and  undeviating 
order  in  our  universe,  which  have  ministered  to  the 
irreligion  of  a  spurious  philosophy,  form  a  basis  on 
which  the  believer  can  prop  a  firmer  confidence  than 
before,  in  all  the  spoken  and  all  the  written  testi- 
monies of  God. 

With  a  man  of  taste,  and  imagination,  and  science, 
and  who  is  withal  a  disciple  of  the  Lord  Jesus,  such 
an  argument  as  this  must  shed  a  new  interest  and 
glory  over  His  whole  contemplation  of  visible 
things.  He  knows  of  His  Saviour,  that  by  Him 
all  things  were  made,  and  that  by  Him  too  all  things 
are  upholden.  The  world,  in  fact,  was  created 
by  that  Being  whose  name  is  the  Word ;  and  from 
the  features  that  are  imprinted  on  the  one,  may  he 
gather  some  of  the  leading  characteristics  of  the 
other.  More  expressly  will  he  infer  from  that  sure 
and  established  order  of  Nature,  in  which  the 
whole  family  of  mankind  are  comprehended,  that 
the  more  special  family  of  believers  are  indeed  en- 
circled within  the  bond  of  a  sure  and  a  well-order- 
ed covenant.  In  those  beauteous  regularities  by 
which  the  one  economy  is  marked,  will  he  be  led 
to  recognise  the  "yea"  and  the  "  amen"  which  are 
stamped  on  the  other  economy — and  when  he  learns 
that  the  certainties  of  science  are  unfailing,  does 
he  also  learn  that  the  sayings  of  Scripture  are  un- 


230  THE  CONSTANCY  OF  NATURE 

alterable.  Both  he  knows  to  emanate  from  the 
same  source ;  and  every  new  experience  of  Nature's 
constancy,  will  just  rivet  him  more  tenaciously  than 
before  to  the  doctrine  and  the  declarations  of  his 
Bible.  Furnished  with  such  a  method  of  interpret- 
ation as  this,  let  him  go  abroad  upon  Nature,  and 
all  that  he  sees  will  heighten  and  establish  the  hopes 
which  Revelation  hath  awakened.  Every  recurrence 
of  the  same  phenomena  as  before,  will  be  to  him  a 
distinct  testimony  to  the  faithfulness  of  God.  The 
very  hours  will  bear  witness  to  it.  The  lengthening 
shades  of  even  will  repeat  the  lesson  held  out  to  him 
by  the  light  of  early  day — and  when  night  unveils 
to  his  eye  the  many  splendours  of  the  firmament, 
will  every  traveller  on  his  circuit  there,  speak  to 
him  of  that  mighty  and  invisible  King,  all  whose 
ordinations  are  sure.  And  this  manifestation  from 
the  face  of  heaven,  will  be  reflected  to  him  by  the 
panorama  upon  earth.  Even  the  buds  which  come 
forth  at  their  appointed  season  on  the  leafless 
branches ;  and  the  springing  up  of  the  flowers  and 
the  herbage,  on  the  spots  of  ground  from  which 
they  had  disappeared;  and  that  month  of  vocal 
harmony  wherewith  the  mute  atmosphere  is  glad- 
dened as  before,  with  the  notes  of  joyous  festival; 
and  so,  the  regular  march  of  the  advancing  year 
through  all  its  footsteps  of  revival,  and  progress, 
and  maturity,  and  decay — these  are  to  him  but  the 
diversified  tokens  of  a  God  whom  he  can  trust, 
because  of  a  God  who  changeth  not.  To  his 
eyes,  the  world  reflects  upon  the  word  the  lesson 
of  its  own  wondrous  harmony ;  and  his  science, 
instead  of  a  meteor  that  lures  from  the  greater 


AND  FAITHFULNESS  OF  GOD.  231 

light  of  Revelation,  serves  him  as  a  pedestal  on 
which  the  stability  of  Scripture  is  more  firmly  up- 
holden. 

The  man  who  is  accustomed  to  view  aright  the 
uniformity  of  Nature's  sequences,  will  be  more  im- 
pressed with  the  certainty  of  that  sequence,  which 
is  announced  in  the  Bible  between  faith  and  sal- 
vation— and  he  of  all  others,  should  re-assure  his 
hopes  of  immortality,  when  he  reads,  that  the  end  of 
our  faith  is  the  salvation  of  our  souls.  In  this  secure 
and  wealthy  place,  let  him  take  up  his  rest,  and  rejoice 
himself  greatly  with  that  God  who  has  so  multipli- 
ed upon  him  the  evidences  of  His  faithfulness.  Let 
him  henceforth  feel  that  he  is  in  the  hands  of  one 
who  never  deviates,  and  who  cannot  he — and  who, 
as  He  never  by  one  act  of  caprice,  hath  mocked 
the  dependence  that  is  built  on  the  foundation  of 
human  experience,  so,  never  by  one  act  of  treach- 
ery, will  He  mock  the  dependence  that  is  built  on 
the  foundation  of  the  divine  testimony.  And  more 
particularly,  let  him  think  of  Christ,  who  hath  all 
the  promises  in  His  hand,  that  to  Him  also  all 
power  has  been  committed  in  heaven  and  in  earth 
— and  that  presiding  therefore,  as  he  does,  over 
that  visible  administration,  of  which  constancy  is 
the  unfailing  attribute.  He  by  this  hath  given  us  the 
best  pledge  of  a  truth  that  abideth  the  same,  to 
day,  and  yesterday,  and  for  ever. 

We  are  aware,  that  no  argument  can  of  itself 
work  in  you  the  faith  of  the  Gospel — that  words 
and  reasons,  and  illustrations,  may  be  multiplied 
without  end,  and  yet  be  of  no  efficacy — that  if  the 
simple  manifestation  of  the  Spirit  be  withheld,  the 


232  THE   CONSTANCY  OF  NATURE 

expounder  of  Scripture,  and  of  all  its  analogies 
with  Creation  or  Providence,  will  lose  his  labour 
— and  while  it  is  his  part  to  prosecute  these  to  the 
uttermost,  yet  nought  will  he  find  more  surely  and 
experimentally  true,  than  that  without  a  special 
interposition  of  light  from  on  high,  he  runneth  in 
vain,  and  wearieth  himself  in  vain.  It  is  for  him  to 
ply  the  instrument,  it  is  for  God  to  give  unto  it  the 
power  which  availeth.  We  are  told  of  Christ  on  His 
throne  of  mediatorship,  that  He  hath  all  the  energies 
of  Nature  at  command,  and  up  to  this  hour  do  we 
know  with  what  a  steady  and  unfaltering  hand  He 
hath  wielded  them.  Look  to  the  promise  as  equally 
steadfast,  of  *'  Lo,  I  am  with  you  always,  even  unto 
the  end  of  the  world" — and  come  even  now  to  His 
own  appointed  ordinance  in  the  like  confidence  of 
a  fellowship  with  Him,  as  you  would  to  any  of  the 
scenes  or  ordinations  of  Nature,  and  in  the  confi- 
dence that  there  the  Lord  of  Nature  will  prove 
Himself  the  same  that  He  has  ever  been.*  The 
blood  that  was  announced  many  centuries  ago  to 
cleanse  from  all  sin,  cleanseth  still.  The  body 
which  hath  borne  in  all  past  ages  the  iniquity  of 
believers,  beareth  it  still.  That  faith  which  appro- 
priates Christ  and  all  the  benefits  of  His  purchase, 
to  the  soul,  still  performs  the  same  office.  And 
that  magnificent  economy  of  Nature  which  was 
established  at  the  first,  and  so  abideth,  is  but 
the  symbol  of  that  higher  economy  of  grace  which 
continueth  to  this  day  according  to  all  its  ordin- 
ances. 


*  This  Sermon  was  delivered  on  tlie  morning  of  a  Communion 
Sabbath. 


AND  FAITHFULNESS  OF  GOD.  233 

**  Whosoever  eateth  my  flesh,  and  drmketh  my 
blood,"  says  the  Saviour,  "  shall  never  die."  When 
you  sit  down  at  His  table,  you  eat  the  bread,  and 
you  drink  the  wine  by  which  these  are  represented 
— and  if  this  be  done  worthily,  if  there  be  a  right 
correspondence  between  the  hand  and  the  heart  in 
this  sacramental  service,  then  by  faith  do  you  re- 
ceive the  benefits  of  the  shed  blood,  and  the  broken 
body ;  and  your  so  doing  will  as  surely  as  any  suc- 
cession takes  place  in  the  instituted  courses  of 
Nature,  be  followed  up  by  your  blessed  immortality. 
And  the  brighter  your  hopes  of  glory  hereafter,  the 
holier  will  you  be  in  all  your  acts  and  aiFections 
here.  The  character  even  now  will  receive  a  tinge 
from  the  prospect  that  is  before  you — and  the 
habitual  anticipation  of  heaven  will  bring  down  both 
of  its  charity  and  its  sacredness  upon  your  heart. 
He  who  hath  this  hope  in  him  purifieth  himself  even 
as  Christ  is  pure — and  even  from  the  present  if  a 
true  approach  to  the  gate  of  His  sanctuary,  will  you 
carry  a  portion  of  His  spirit  away  with  you.  In 
partaking  of  these  His  consecrated  elements,  you 
become  partakers  of  his  gentleness  and  devotion, 
and  unwearied  beneficence — and  because  like  Him 
in  time,  you  will  live  with  Him  through  eternity.  , 


234  EFFICACY  OF  PRAYER 


DISCOURSE  II. 

ON  THE  CONSISTENCY  BETWEEN  THE  EFFI- 
CACY OF  PRAYER— AND  THE  UNIFORMITY 
OF  NATURE. 


**  Knowing  this  first,  that  there  shall  come  in  the  last  days  scoffers, 
walking  after  their  own  lusts, — and  saying,  Where  is  the  pro- 
mise of  his  coming  ?  for  since  the  fathers  fell  asleep,  all  things 
continue  as  they  were  from  the  beginning  of  the  creation.* — 
2  Peter  iii.  3,  4. 

The  infidelity  spoken  of  in  our  text,  had  for 
its  basis  the  stabiUty  of  nature,  or  rested  on  the 
imagination  that  her  economy  was  perpetual  and 
everlasting — and  every  day  of  nature's  continuance 
added  to  the  strength  and  inveteracy  of  this  de- 
lusion. In  proportion  to  the  length  of  her  past 
endurance,  was  there  a  firm  confidence  felt  in  her 
future  perpetuity.  The  longer  that  nature  lasted, 
or  the  older  she  grew,  her  final  dissolution  was 
held  to  be  all  the  more  improbable — till  nothing 
seemed  so  unlikely  to  the  atheistical  men  of  that 
period,  as  the  intervention  of  a  God  with  a  sys- 
tem of  visible  things,  which  looked  so  unchanging 
and  so  indestructible.  It  was  like  the  contest  of 
experience  and  faith,  in  which  the  former  grew 
every  day  stronger  and  stronger,  and  the  latter 
weaker  and  weaker,  till  at  length  it  was  wholly 
extinguished ;  and  men  in  the  spirit  of  defiance  or 
ridicule,  braved  the  announcement  of  a  Judge  who 


AND  UNIFORMITY  OF  NATURE.  235 

should  appear  at  the  end  of  the  world,  and  mocked 
at  the  promise  of  His  coming. 

But  there  is  another  direction  which  infidelity 
often  takes,  beside  the  one  specified  in  our  text. 
It  not  only  perverts  to  its  own  argument,  what 
experience  tells  of  the  stability  of  nature  ;  and  so 
concludes  that  we  have  nothing  to  fear  from  the 
mandate  of  a  God,  laying  sudden  arrest  and  ter- 
mination on  its  processes.  It  also  perverts  what 
experience  tells  of  the  uniformity  of  nature ;  and 
so  concludes  that  we  have  nothing  either  to  hope 
or  to  fear,  from  the  intervention  of  a  God  during 
the  continuance  or  the  currency  of  these  processes. 
Beside  making  nature  independent  of  God  for 
its  duration,  which  they  hold  to  be  everlasting  ; 
they  would  also  make  nature  to  be  independent  of 
God  for  its  course,  which  they  hold  to  be  unalter- 
able. They  tell  us  of  the  rigid  and  undeviating 
constancy  from  which  nature  is  never  known  to 
fluctuate  ;  and  that  in  her  immutable  laws,  in  the 
march  and  regularity  of  her  orderly  progressions, 
they  can  discover  no  trace  whatever  of  any  inter- 
position by  the  finger  of  a  Deity.  It  is  not  only 
that  all  things  continue  to  be,  as  they  were  from  the 
beginning  of  creation;  but  that  all  things  continue 
to  act,  as  they  did  from  the  beginning  of  the 
creation — causes  and  effects  following  each  other 
in  wonted  and  invariable  succession,  and  the  same 
circumstances  ever  issuing  in  the  same  consequents 
as  before.  With  such  a  system  of  things,  there  is 
no  room  in  their  creed  or  in  their  imagination,  for 
the  actings  of  a  God.  To  their  eye,  nature  pro- 
ceeds by  the  sure  footsteps  of  a  mute  and  uncon- 


236  EFFICACY  OF  PRAYER 

scious  materialism ;  nor  can  they  recognize  in  its 
evolutions  those  characters  ot  the  spontaneous  or 
the  wilful,  which  bespeak  a  living  God  to  have 
had  any  concern  with  it.  He  may  have  formed 
the  mundane  system  at  the  first :  he  may  have 
devised  for  matter  its  properties  and  its  laws : 
but  these  properties,  they  tell  us,  never  change; 
these  laws  never  are  relaxed  or  receded  from. 
And  so  we  may  as  well  bid  the  storm  itself  cease 
from  its  violence,  as  supplicate  the  unseen  Being 
whom  we  fancy  to  be  sitting  aloft  and  to  direct  the 
storm.  This  they  hold  to  be  a  superstitious 
imagination,  which  all  their  experience  of  nature 
and  of  nature's  immutability  forbids  them  to 
entertain.  By  the  one  infidelity,  they  have 
banished  a  God  from  the  throne  of  judgment. 
By  the  other  infidelity,  they  have  banished  a  God 
from  the  throne  of  providence.  By  the  first  they 
tell  us,  that  a  God  has  nought  to  do  with  the  con- 
summation of  nature ;  or,  rather,  that  nature  has 
no  consummation.  By  the  second,  they  tell  us 
that  a  God  has  nought  to  do  with  the  history  of 
nature.  The  first  infidelity  would  expunge  from 
our  creed  the  doctrine  of  a  coming  judgment.  The 
second  would  expunge  from  it  the  doctrine  of  a 
present  and  a  special  providence,  and  the  doctrine 
of  the  efficacy  of  prayer. 

Kow  this  last,  though  not  just  the  infidelity  of 
the  text — yet  being  very  much  the  same  with  it  in 
principle — we  hold  it  sufficiently  textual,  though 
we  make  it,  and  not  the  other  the  subject  of  our 
present  argument.  We  admit  the  uniformity  of 
visible  nature — a  lesson  forced  upon  us  by  all 
experience.      We  admit  that  as  far  as  our  obser- 


AND  UNIFORMITY  OF  NATURE.  237 

vation  extends,  nature  has  always  proceeded  in 
one  invariable  order — insomuch  that  the  same 
antecedents  have,  without  exception,  been  ever 
followed  up  by  the  same  consequents ;  and  that, 
saving  the  well  accredited  miracles  of  the  Jewish 
and  Christian  dispensations,  all  things  have  so 
continued  since  the  beginning  of  the  creation. 

We  admit  that,  never  in  our  whole  lives,  have 
we  witnessed  as  the  effect  of  man's  prayer,  any 
infringement  made  on  the  known  laws  of  the 
universe  ;  or  that  nature  by  receding  from  her 
constancy,  to  the  extent  that  we  have  discovered 
it,  has  ever  in  one  instance  yielded  to  his  supplica- 
ting cry.  We  admit  that  by  no  importunity  from 
the  voice  of  faith,  or  from  any  number  and  com- 
bination of  voices,  have  we  seen  an  arrest  or  a 
shift  laid  on  the  ascertained  courses,  whether  of 
the  material  or  the  mental  economy  ;  or  a  single 
fulfilment  of  any  sort,  brought  about  in  contraven- 
tion, either  to  the  known  properties  of  any  sub- 
stance, or  to  the  known  principles  of  any  established 
succession  in  the  history  of  nature.  These  are  our 
experiences;  and  we  are  aware  the  very  experiences 
which  ministered  to  the  infidelity  of  our  text,  and  do 
minister  to  the  practical  infideUty  of  thousands  in 
the  present  day — ^yet,  in  opposition  to,  or  rather 
notwithstanding  these  experiences,  universal  and 
unexcepted  though  they  be,  do  we  affirm  the 
doctrine  of  a  superintending  providence,  as  various 
and  as  special,  as  our  necessities — the  doctrine  of 
a  perpetual  interposition  from  above,  as  manifoldly 
and  minutely  special,  as  are  the  believing  requests 
which  ascend  from  us  to  Heaven's  throne. 

We  feel  the  importance  of  the  subject,  both^  in 


238  EFFICACY  OF  PRAYER 

its  application  to  the  judgment  that  now  hangs 
over  us,*  and  to  the  infidehty  of  the  present 
times.  But  we  cannot  hope  to  be  fully  under- 
stood, without  your  most  strenuous  and  sustained 
attention — an  attention,  however,  which  we  request 
may  be  kept  up  to  the  end,  even  though  certain 
parts  in  the  train  of  observation  may  not  have 
been  followed  by  you.  What  some  may  lose  in 
those  passages,  where  the  subject  is  presented  in 
the  form  of  a  general  argument,  may  again  be 
recovered,  when  we  attempt  to  establish  our  doc- 
trine by  scripture,  or  to  illustrate  it  by  instances 
taken  from  the  history  of  human  affairs.  In  one 
way  or  other,  you  may  seize  on  the  reigning  prin- 
ciple of  that  explanation,  by  which  we  endeavour 
to  reconcile  the  efficacy  of  prayer  with  the  unifor- 
mity of  experience.  And  our  purpose  shall  have 
been  obtained,  if  we  can  at  all  help  you  to  a 
greater  confidence  in  the  reality  of  a  superintending 
providence,  to  a  greater  comfort  and  confidence  in 
the  act  of  making  your  requests  known  unto  God. 

Let  us  first  give  our  view  in  all  its  generality, 
in  the  hope  that  any  obscurity  which  may  rest 
upon  it  in  this  form,  will  be  dissipated  or  cleared 
up,  in  the  subsequent  appeals  that  we  shall  make, 
both  to  the  lessons  of  the  Bible,  and  to  the  lessons 
of  human  experience. 

We  grant  then,  we  unreservedly  grant,  the 
uniformity  of  visible  nature ;  and  now  let  us  compute 
how  much,  or  how  little,  it  amounts  to.  Grant  of 
all  our  progressions,  that,  as  far  as  our  eye  can 
carry  us,  they  are  invariable ;  and  then  let  us  only 
»  This  sermon  was  preached  during  the  prevalence  of  cholera. 


AND  UNIFORMITY  OF  NATURE.  239 

reflect  how  short  a  way  we  can  trace  any  of  them 
upwards.  In  speculating  on  the  origm  of  an 
event,  we  may  be  able  to  assign  the  one  which 
immediately  preceded,  and  term  it  the  proximate 
cause  ;  or  even  ascend  by  two  or  three  footsteps, 
till  we  have  discovered  some  anterior  event  which 
we  term  the  remote  cause.  But  how  soon  do  we 
arrive  at  the  limit  of  possible  investigation,  beyond 
which  if  we  attempt  to  go,  we  lose  ourselves 
among  the  depths  and  the  obscurities  of  a  region 
that  is  unknown  ?  Observation  may  conduct  us  a 
certain  length  backwards  in  the  train  of  causes 
and  effects  ;  but,  after  having  done  its  uttermost, 
we  feel,  that,  above  and  beyond  its  loftiest  place 
of  ascent,  there  are  still  higher  steps  in  the  train, 
which  we  vainly  try  to  reach,  and  find  them  inac- 
cessible. It  is  even  so  throughout  all  philosophy. 
After  having  arrived  at  the  remotest  cause  which 
man  can  reach  his  way  to,  we  shall  ever  find  there 
are  higher  and  remoter  causes  still,  which  distance 
all  his  powers  of  research,  and  so  will  ever  remain 
in  deepest  concealment  from  his  view.  Of  this 
higher  part  of  the  train  he  has  no  observation. 
Of  these  remoter  causes,  and  their  mode  of  suc- 
cession, he  can  positively  say  nothing.  For  aught 
he  knows,  they  may  be  under  the  immediate  con- 
trol of  higher  beings  in  the  universe  ;  or,  like  the 
upper  part  of  a  chain,  a  few  of  whose  closing  links 
are  all  that  is  visible  to  us,  they  may  be  directly 
appended  to  the  throne,  and  at  all  times  subject 
to  the  instant  pleasure  of  a  prayer-hearing  God. 
And  it  may  be  by  a  responsive  touch  at  the  higher, 
and  not  the  lower  part  of  the  progression,  that  He 


240  EFFICACY  OF  PRAYER 

answers  our  prayers.      It  may  be  not  by  an  act 
of  intervention   among    those    near    and   visible 
causes,  where  intervention  would  be  a  miracle ;  it 
may  be  by  an  unseen,  but  not  less  effectual  act 
of  intervention,  among  the  remote  and  therefore 
the  occult  causes,  that  He  adapts  Himself  to  the 
various  wants  and  meets  the  various  petitions  of 
His  children.      If  it  be  in  the  latter  way  that  He 
conducts  the  affairs  of  His  daily  government — then 
may  He  rule  by  a  providence  as  special,  as  are  the 
needs  and  the  occasions  of  His  family ;  and,  with 
an  ear  open  to  every  cry,  might  He  provide  for 
all  and  administer  to  all,  without  one  infringement 
on  the  uniformity  of  visible  nature.      If  the  re- 
sponsive  touch  be  given  at  the  lower  part  of  the 
chain,  then  the  answer  to  prayer  is  by  miracle,  or 
by  a  contravention  to  some  of  the  known  sequences 
of  nature.     But  if  the  responsive  touch  be  given  at 
a  sufficiently  higher  part  of  the  chain,   then  the 
answer  is  as  effectually  made,  but  not  by  miracle, 
and    without    violence   to   any   one   succession  of 
history  or  nature  which  philosophy  has  ascertained 
— because  the  reaction  to  the  prayer  strikes  at  a 
place  that  is  higher  than  the  highest  investigations 
of  philosophy.      It  is  not  by  a  visible  movement 
within  the  region  of  human  observation,  but  by  an 
invisible  movement  in  the  transcendental  region 
above  it,  that  the  prayer  is  met  and  responded  to. 
The  Supernal  Power  of  the  Universe,  the  mighty 
and  unseen  Being  who  sits  aloft,  and  has  been 
significantly  styled  the   Cause  of  causes — He,  in 
immediate  contact  with  the  upper  extremities  of 
every  progression,  there  puts  forth  an  overruling 


AND  UNIFORMITY"  OF  NATURE.  241 

influence  which  tells  and  propagates  downwards 
to  the  lower  extremities  ;  and  so,  by  an  agency 
placed  too  remote  either  for  the  eye  of  sense  or 
for  all  the  instruments  of  science  to  discover, 
may  God,  in  answer  if  He  choose  to  prayer,  fix 
and  determine  every  series  of  events — of  which 
nevertheless  all  that  man  can  see  is  but  the  uni- 
formity of  the  closing  footsteps — a  few  of  the  last 
causes  and  effects  following  each  other  in  their 
wonted  order.  It  is  thus  that  we  reconcile  all 
the  experience  which  man  has  of  nature's  unifor- 
mity, with  the  effect  and  significancy  of  his  prayers 
to  the  God  of  nature.  It  is  thus  that  at  one  and 
the  same  time,  do  we  live  under  the  care  of  a 
presiding  God,  and  among  the  regularities  of  a 
harmonious  universe. 

These  views  are  in  beautiful  accordance  with 
the  simple  and  sublime  theology  unfolded  to  us  in 
the  book  of  Job — where,  whether  in  the  movements 
of  the  animated  kingdom  below,  or  the  great 
evolutions  that  take  place  in  the  upper  regions  of 
the  atmosphere,  the  phenomena  and  the  processes 
of  visible  nature  are  sketched  with  a  masterly 
hand.  It  is  in  the  midst  of  these  scenes  and  im- 
pressive descriptions,  that  we  are  told — "  lo  these 
are  parts  of  his  ways."  l*he  translation  does  not 
say  what  parts  ;  but  the  original  does.  They  are 
but  the  lower  parts — the  endings  as  it  were  of  the 
different  processes — the  last  and  lowest  footsteps, 
which  are  all  that  science  can  investigate ;  and  of 
which,  throughout  the  whole  of  her  limited  ascent, 
she  has  traced  the  uniformity.  But  she  has  traced 
it  a  very  short  way :  or,  in  the  language  of  the 

VOL.  VII.  L 


242  EFFICACY  OF  PRAYER 

patriarch,  who  estimates  aright  the  achievements 
of  philosophy — how  Uttle  a  portion  is  heard  of 
Him — how  few  the  known  footsteps  which  are 
beneath  the  veil  to  the  unknown  steps  and  workings 
which  are  above  it ;  and  so,  the  thunder,  or  rather 
the  inward  and  secret  movements  of  His  power, 
who  can  understand  ? 

"  He  bindeth  up  the  waters  in  his  thick  clouds: 
and  the  cloud  is  not  rent  under  them.  He  hold- 
eth  back  the  face  of  his  throne,  and  spreadeth  his 
cloud  upon  it.  He  hath  compassed  the  waters 
with  bounds,  until  the  day  and  night  come  to  an 
end.  The  pillars  of  heaven  tremble,  and  are 
astonished  at  his  reproof.  He  divideth  the  sea 
with  his  power,  and  by  his  understanding  he 
smiteth  through  the  proud.  By  his  spirit  he  hath 
garnished  the  heavens ;  his  hand  hath  formed  the 
crooked  serpent.  Lo,  these  are  parts  of  his  ways  ; 
but  how  little  a  portion  is  heard  of  him  ?  but  the 
thunder  of  his  power  who  can  understand  ?"  Job 
xxvi.  8 — 14. 

The  last  sentence  of  this  magnificent  passage 
were  better  translated  thus — These  are  the  parts, 
or  the  lower  endings  of  his  ways ; — but  the  secret 
working  of  his  power,  who  can  understand  ? 
*  That  part  of  the  economy  of  the  divine  adminis- 
tration, in  virtue  of  which  God  works,  not  without 
but  by  secondary  causes,  is  frequently  intimated  in 
the  book  of  Psalms. 

"  Who  maketh  his  angels  spirits,  his  ministers  a 
flaming  fire."     Ps.  civ.  4. 

Or,  as  it  might  have  been  translated — "  Who 
maketh  the  winds  his  messengers,  and  the  flaming 
fire  his  servant." 


AND  UNIFORMITY  OF  NATURE.  243 

But  without  the  aid  of  any  emendations  in  our 
version,  this  subserviency  of  visible  nature  to  the 
invisible  God,  is  distinctly  laid  before  us  in  the 
following  passages. 

"  They  that  go  down  to  the  sea  in  ships,  that 
do  business  in  great  waters  ;  I'hese  see  the  works 
of  the  Lord,  and  his  wonders  in  the  deep.  For 
he  commandeth,  and  raiseth  the  stormy  wind, 
which  lifteth  up  the  waves  thereof.  They  mount 
up  to  the  heaven,  they  go  down  again  to  the 
depths  ;  their  soul  is  melted  because  of  trouble. 
They  reel  to  and  fro,  and  stagger  like  a  drunken 
man,  and  are  at  their  wit's  end.  Then  they  cry 
unto  the  Lord  in  their  trouble,  and  he  bringeth 
them  out  of  their  distresses.  He  maketh  the 
storm  a  calm,  so  that  the  waves  thereof  are  still. 
Then  are  they  glad,  because  they  be  quiet ;  so  he 
bringeth  them  unto  their  desired  haven.  Oh, 
that  men  would  praise  the  Lord  for  his  goodness, 
and  for  his  wonderful  works  to  the  children  of 
men."      Psalm  cvii.  23—31. 

He  raises  the  tempest,  not  without  the  wind, 
but  by  the  wind.  In  the  one  way,  it  would  have 
been  a  miracle ;  in  the  other  way  it  is  alike 
effectual,  but  without  any  change  in  the  properties 
or  laws  of  visible  nature — without  what  we  com- 
monly understand  by  a  miracle.  He  does  not 
bring  the  vessel  against  the  wind  to  its  desired 
haven ;  but  he  makes  the  storm  a  calm,  and  so 
the  waves  thereof  are  still.  Our  Saviour  also 
bade  the  winds  into  peace ;  and  the  miracle  there 
lay  in  the  effect  following  on  the  heard  utterance 
of  His  voice.  A  voice  no  less  effectual  though 
unheard  by  us,  overrules  at  all  times  the  working 


244  EFFICACY  OF  PRAYER 

of  nature's  elements  ;  and  brings  the  ordinary  pro- 
cesses, as  well  as  the  marked  and  miraculous 
exception  to  them,  under  the  control  of  a  divine 
agency. 

*'  Whatsoever  the  Lord  pleased,  that  did  he  in 
heaven,  and  in  earth,  in  the  seas,  and  all  deep 
places.  He  causeth  the  vapours  to  ascend  from 
the  ends  of  the  earth ;  he  maketh  lightnings  for 
the  rain;  he  bringeth  the  wind  out  of  his 
treasuries."      Psalm  cxxxv.  6,  7. 

Here,  without  any  change  of  translation,  we  are 
told  of  the  subserviency  of  the  visible  instruments, 
to  the  invisible  but  real  agency  of  Him  who  wields 
them  at  His  pleasure.  In  this  passage,  the  winds 
are  plainly  represented  to  us  as  the  messengers  of 
God,  and  the  flaming  fire  as  his  servant.  He 
changes  no  properties,  and  no  visible  processes — 
working,  not  without  the  wind,  but  by  it — not 
without  the  electric  matter,  but  by  it — not  without 
the  rain,  but  by  it — not  without  the  vapour,  but 
by  it.  Let  the  philosopher  tell  how  far  back  he 
can  go,  in  exploring  the  method  and  order  of  these 
respective  agencies.  Then  we  have  only  to  point 
further  back  and  ask — on  what  evidence  he  can 
tell,  that  the  fiat  and  the  finger  of  a  God  are  not 
there.  We  grant  the  observed  order  to  be 
invariable,  save  when  God  chooses  to  interpose  by 
miracle.  But  whether  he  does  or  not — from  that 
chamber  of  his  hidden  operations,  which  philosophy 
has  not  found  its  way  to,  can  he  so  direct  all,  so 
subordinate  all,  that  whatever  the  Lord  pleases, 
that  does  he  in  heaven  and  in  earth,  in  the  seas, 
and  all  deep  places. 


AND  UNIFORMITY  OF  NATURE.  245 

"  Praise  the  Lord  from  the  earth,  ye  dragons, 
and  all  deeps :  Fh-e  and  hail ;  snow  and  vapour ; 
stormy  wind  fulfilling  his  word."  Psalm  cxlviii.  7,  8. 

The  stormy  wind  fulfiUeth  his  word. 

Our  last  example  shall  be  from  the  New  Testa- 
ment. "  Nevertheless  he  left  not  himself  without 
witness,  in  that  he  did  good,  and  gave  us  rain 
from  heaven,  and  fruitful  seasons,  filling  our  hearts 
with  food  and  gladness."     Acts  xiv.  17. 

This  last  example  will  prepare  you  to  go  along 
with  one  of  the  particular  instances  we  are  just  to 
bring  forward,  of  a  special  prayer  met  by  a  special 
fulfilment. 

We  are  thus  enabled  to  perceive  what  the 
respective  provinces  are  of  philosophy  and  faith. 
Every  event  in  nature  or  history,  has  a  cause  in 
some  prior  event  that  went  before  it,  and  that 
again  in  another,  and  that  again  in  another  still 
higher  than  itself  in  this  scale  of  precedency ;  and 
so  might  we  climb  our  ascending  way  from  cause 
to  cause,  from  consequent  to  antecedent — till  the 
investigation  has  been  carried  upwards,  from 
the  farthest  possible  verge  of  human  discovery. 
There  it  is  that  the  domain  of  observation  or  of 
philosophy  terminates ;  but  we  mistake,  if  we 
think  that  there  the  progression,  whose  terms  or 
whose  footsteps  we  have  traced  thus  far,  also  ter- 
minates. Beyond  this  limit  we  cannot  track  the 
pathway  of  causation — not  because  the  pathway 
ceases,  but  because  we  have  lost  sight  of  it — 
having  now  retired  from  view  among  the  depths 
and  mysteries  of  an  unknown  region,  which  we, 
with  our  bounded  faculties,  cannot  enter.      This 


246  EFFICACY  OF  PRAYER 

may  be  termed  the  region  of  faith — placed  as  it 
were  above  the  region  of  experience.  The  things 
which  are  done  in  the  higher,  have  an  overruhng 
influence,  by  hnes  of  transmission,  on  all  that 
happens  in  the  lower — yet  without  one  breach  or 
interruption  to  the  uniformity  of  visible  nature. 
Whatever  is  done  in  the  transcendental  region — 
be  it  by  the  influence  of  prayer  ;  by  the  immediate 
finger  of  God ;  by  the  ministry  of  angels ;  by  the 
spontaneous  movements,  whether  of  displeasure 
or  of  mercy  above,  responding  to  the  sins  or  to 
the  supplicating  cries  that  ascend  from  earth's 
inhabitants  below — that  will  pass  by  a  descending 
hifluence  into  the  palpable  region  of  sense  and 
observation — yet,  from  the  moment  it  comes  within 
its  limits,  will  it  proceed  without  the  semblance  of 
a  miracle,  but  by  the  march  and  the  movement  of 
nature's  regularity,  to  its  final  consummation.  God 
hath  in  wisdom  ordained  a  regimen  of  general  laws; 
and,  that  man  might  gather  from  the  memory  of 
the  past  those  lessons  of  observation  which  serve 
for  the  guidance  of  the  future.  He  hath  enacted 
that  all  those  successions  shall  be  invariable,  which 
have  their  place  and  their  fulfilment  within  the 
world  of  sensible  experience.  Yet  God  has  not, 
on  that  account,  made  the  world  independent  of 
Himself.  He  keeps  a  perpetual  hold  on  all  its 
events  and  processes  notwithstanding.  He  does  not 
dissever  Himself,  for  a  single  instant,  from  the 
government  and  the  guardianship  of  His  own  uni- 
verse ;  and  can  still,  notwithstanding  all  we  see  of 
nature's  rigid  uniformity,  adapt  the  forth-goings  of 
His  power  to  all  the  wants  and  all  the  prayers  of  His 


AND  UNIFOKMITY  OF  NATURE.  247 

dependent  family.  For  this  purpose,  He  does  not 
need  to  stretch  forth  His  hand  on  the  inferior  and 
the  visible  links  of  any  progression,  so  as  to  shift 
the  known  successions  of  experience  ;  or  at  all  to 
intermeddle  with  the  lessons  and  the  laws  of  this 
great  schoolmaster.  He  may  work  in  secret,  and 
yet  perform  all  His  pleasure — not  by  the  achieve- 
ment of  a  miracle  on  nature's  open  platform ;  but 
by  the  touch  of  one  or  other  of  those  master  springs, 
which  lie  within  the  recesses  of  her  inner  laboratory. 
There,  and  at  His  place  of  supernal  command  by 
the  fountain  heads  of  influence,  He  can  turn 
whithersoever  He  will  the  machinery  of  our  world, 
and  without  the  possibility  by  human  eye  of  de- 
tecting the  least  infringement  on  any  of  its  processes 
— at  once  upholding  the  regularity  of  visible  nature, 
and  the  supremacy  of  nature's  invisible  God. 

But  we  are  glad  to  make  our  escape,  and  now 
to  make  it  conclusively,  from  the  obscurer  part 
of  our  reasoning  on  this  subject — although,  most 
assuredly,  these  are  not  the  times  for  passing  it 
wholly  by ;  or  for  withholding  aught  which  can 
make  in  favour  of  the  much  derided  cause  of 
humble  and  earnest  piety.  But,  instead  of  pro- 
pounding our  doctrine  in  the  terms  of  a  general 
argument,  let  us  try  the  effect  of  a  few  special 
instances — by  which,  perhaps,  we  might  more 
readily  gain  the  consent  of  your  understanding  to 
our  views. 

When  the  sigh  of  the  midnight  storm  sends 
fearful  agitation  into  a  mother's  heart,  as  she 
thinks  of  her  sailor  boy^  now  exposed  to  its  fury, 
ou  the  waters  of  a  distant  ocean — these  stern  dis- 


248  EFFICACY  OF  PRAYER 

ciples  of  a  hard  and  stern  infidelity  would,  on  this 
notion  of  a  rigid  and  impracticable  constancy  in 
nature,  forbid  her  prayers — holding  them  to  be  as 
impotent  and  vain,  though  addressed  to  the  God 
who  has  all  the  elements  in  his  hand,  as  if  lifted 
up  with  senseless  importunity  to  the  raving 
elements  themselves.  Yet  nature  would  strongly 
prompt  the  aspiration;  and,  if  there  be  truth  in 
our  argument,  there  is  nothing  in  the  constitution 
of  the  universe  to  forbid  its  accomplishment.  God 
might  answer  the  prayer,  not  by  unsettling  the 
order  of  secondary  causes — not  by  reversing  any 
of  the  wonted  successions  that  are  known  to  take 
place,  in  the  ever-restless  ever-heaving  atmosphere 
— not  by  sensible  miracle  among  those  nearer 
footsteps  which  the  philosopher  has  traced ;  but  by 
the  touch  of  an  immediate  hand  among  the  deep 
recesses  of  materialism,  which  are  beyond  the 
ken  of  all  his  instruments.  It  is  thence  that  the 
Sovereign  of  nature  might  bid  the  wild  uproar  of 
the  elements  into  silence.  It  is  there  that  the 
virtue  comes  out  of  Him,  which  passes  like  a  winged 
messenger  from  the  invisible  to  the  visible  ;  and, 
at  the  threshold  of  separation  between  these  two 
regions,  impresses  the  direction  of  the  Almighty's 
will  on  the  remotest  cause  which  science  can 
mount  her  way  to.  From  this  point  in  the  series, 
the  path  of  descent  along  the  line  of  nearer  and 
proximate  causes  may  be  rigidly  invariable  ;  and 
in  respect  of  the  order,  the  precise  undeviating 
order,  wherewith  they  follow  each  other,  all  things 
continue  as  they  were  from  the  beginning  of  the 
creation.      Tlie  heat,   and   the    vapour,   and   the 


AND  UNIFORMITY  OF  NATURE.  249 

atmospherical  precipitates,  and  the  consequent 
moving  forces  by  which  either  to  raise  a  new  tem- 
pest or  to  lay  an  old  one — all  these  may  proceed,  and 
without  one  hair-breadth  of  deviation,  according  to 
the  successions  of  our  estabhshed  philosophy — yet 
each  be  but  the  obedient  messenger  of  that  voice, 
which  gave  forth  its  command  at  the  fountain-head 
of  the  whole  operation ;  which  commissioned  the 
vapours  to  ascend  from  the  ends  of  the  earth,  and 
made  lightnings  for  the  rain,  and  brought  the 
wind  out  of  his  treasuries.  These  are  the  palpa- 
ble steps  of  the  process  ;  but  an  unseen  influence, 
behind  the  farthest  limit  of  man's  boasted  dis- 
coveries, may  have  set  them  agoing.  And  that 
influence  may  have  been  accorded  to  prayer — the 
power  that  moves  Him,  who  moves  the  universe ; 
and  who,  without  violence  to  the  known  regularities 
of  nature,  can  either  send  forth  the  hurricane  over 
the  face  of  the  deep  or  recall  it  at  His  pleasure. 
Such  is  the  joyful  persuasion  of  faith,  and  proud 
philosophy  cannot  disprove  it.  A  woman's  feeble 
cry  may  have  overruled  the  elemental  war  ;  and 
hushed  into  silence  this  wild  frenzy  of  the  winds 
and  the  waves  ;  and  evoked  the  gentler  breezes 
from  the  cave  of  their  slumbers  ;  and  wafted  the 
vessel  of  her  dearest  hopes,  and  which  held  the 
first  and  fondest  of  her  earthly  treasures,  to  its 
desired  haven. 

And  so  of  other  prayers.  It  is  not  without  in- 
strumentality, but  by  means  of  it,  that  they  are 
answered.  The  fulfilment  is  preceded  by  the 
accustomed  series  of  causes  and  efi-ects  ;  and  pre- 
ceded as  far  upward,  as  the  eye  of  man  can  trace 
l2 


250  EFFICACY  OF  PRAYER 

the  pedigree  of  sensible  causation.  Were  it  by  a 
break  anywhere  in  the  traceable  part  of  this  series 
that  the  prayer  was  answered,  then  its  fulfilment 
■would  be  miraculous.  But  without  a  miracle  the 
prayer  is  answered  as  effectually.  Thus,  for  ex- 
ample, is  met  the  cry  of  a  people  under  famine, 
for  a  speedy  and  plenteous  harvest — not  by  the 
instant  appearance  of  the  ripened  grain,  at  the 
bidding  of  a  voice  from  heaven — not  preternaturally 
cherished  into  maturity,  in  the  midst  of  storms ; 
but  ushered  onwards,  by  a  grateful  succession  of 
shower  and  sunshine,  to  a  prosperous  consumma- 
tion. An  abundant  harvest  is  granted  to  prayer — 
yet  without  violence,  either  to  the  laws  of  the  vege- 
table physiology,  or  to  any  of  the  known  laws  by 
which  the  alterations  of  the  weather  are  determined. 
It  must  be  acknowledged  by  every  philosopher, 
how  soon  it  is  that  we  arrive  in  both  departments 
on  the  confines  of  deepest  mystery  :  and,  let  the 
constancy  of  patent  and  palpable  nature  be  as 
unaltered  and  unalterable  as  it  may,  God  reserves 
to  Himself  the  place  of  mastery  and  command, 
whether  among  the  arcana  of  vegetation  or  the 
depths  of  meteorology,  He  may  at  once  permit 
a  most  rigid  uniformity  to  the  visible  workings  of 
nature's  mechanism — while  among  its  invisible, 
which  are  also  its  antecedent  workings,  He  retains 
that  station  of  preeminence  and  power,  whence  He 
brings  all  things  to  pass  according  to  His  pleasure. 
It  is  not  by  sending  bread  from  the  upper  store- 
bouses  of  the  firmament,  that  He  answers  this 
prayer.  It  is  by  sending  rain  and  fruitful  seasons. 
The  intermediate  machinery  of  nature  is  not  cast 


AND  UNIFORMITY  OF  NATURE.  251 

aside,  but  pressed  into  the  service ;  and  the  prayer 
is  answered  by  a  secret  touch  from  the  finger  of 
the  Almighty,  which  sets  all  its  parts  and  all  its 
processes  agoing.  With  the  eye  of  sense,  man 
sees  nothing  but  nature  revolving  in  her  wonted 
cycles,  and  the  months  following  each  other  in 
bright  and  beautiful  succession.  In  the  eye  of 
faith,  ay  and  of  sound  philosophy,  every  year  of 
smiling  plenty  upon  earth  is  a  year  crowned  with 
the  goodness  of  heaven. 

But  to  touch  on  that  w^hich  more  immediately 
concerns  us,  let  us  now  instance  prayer  for  health. 
We  ask,  if  here  philosophy  has  taken  possession 
of  the  whole  domain,  and  left  no  room  for  the  pre- 
rogatives and  the  exercise  of  faith — no  hope  for 
prayer  ?  Has  the  whole  intermediate  space 
between  the  first  cause  and  the  ultimate  phenomena, 
been  so  thoroughly  explored  ;  and  the  rigid  uni- 
formity of  every  footstep  in  the  series  been  so  fixed 
and  ascertained  by  observation,  as  to  preclude  the 
rationality  of  prayer,  and  leave  it  without  a  mean- 
ing, because  without  the  possibility  of  a  fulfilment? 
Where  is  the  physician  or  the  physiologist  who 
can  tell,  that  he  has  made  the  ascent  from  one 
prognostic  or  one  predisposition  to  another — till  he 
reached  even  to  the  primary  fountain-head  of  that 
influenc'o,  which  either  medicates  or  distempers 
the  human  frame ;  and  found  throughout  an  ada- 
mantine chain  of  necessity,  not  to  be  broken  by  the 
sufi'erer's  imploring  cry  ?  We  ask  the  guardians 
of  our  health,  how  far  upon  the  pathway  of  causa- 
tion, the  discoveries  of  medical  science  have  carried 
them  ;    and    whether,    above    and    beyond   their 


252  EFFICACY  OF  PRAYER 

farthest  look  into  the  mysteries  of  our  framework, 
there  are  not  higher  mysteries  ;  where  a  God  may 
work  in  secret,  and  the  hand  of  the  Omnipotent  be 
stretched  forth  to  heal  or  to  destroy  ?  It  is  thence. 
He  may  answer  prayer.  It  is  from  this  summit  of 
ascendancy,  that  He  may  direct  all  the  processes 
of  the  human  constitution — yet  without  violating 
in  any  instance,  the  uniformity  of  the  few  last  and 
visible  footsteps.  Because  science  ha&  traced,  and 
so  far  determined  this  uniformity,  she  has  not 
therefore  exiled  God  from  His  own  universe :  She 
has  not  forced  the  Deity  to  quit  His  hold  of  its 
machinery,  or  to  forego  by  one  iota  the  most  per- 
fect command  of  all  its  evolutions.  His  superin- 
tendence is  as  close  and  continuous  and  special,  as 
if  all  things  were  done  by  the  visible  intervention 
of  his  hand.  Without  superstition,  with  the 
fullest  recognition  of  science  in  all  its  prerogatives 
and  all  its  glories — might  we  feel  our  immediate 
dependence  on  God ;  and,  even  in  this  our  philo- 
sophic day,  and  notwithstanding  all  that  philosophy 
has  made  known  to  us,  might  we  still  assert  and 
vindicate  the  higher  philosophy  of  prayer — asking 
of  God,  as  patriarchs  and  holy  men  of  old  did 
before  us,  for  safety  and  sustenance  and  health 
and  all  things. 

And  if  ever  in  the  dealings  of  God  with  the 
people  of  the  earth,  if  ever  science  had  less  of  the 
territory  and  faith  had  more  of  it,  it  is  in  that  un- 
disclosed mystery  which  still  hangs  over  us ;  which 
now  for  many  months  has  shed  baleful  influences 
on  your  crowded  city  ;  and  whereof  no  man  can 
tell  whether  in  another  day  or  another  hour,  it 


AND  UNIFORMITY  OF  NATURE.  253 

niiglit  not  descend  with  fell  swoop  into  the  midst 
of  his  own  family — entering  there  with  rude  un- 
ceremonious footstep,  and  hurrying  to  one  of  its 
rapid  and  inglorious  funerals  the  dearest  of  the 
inmates.  Never  on  any  other  theme  did  philosophy 
make  more  entire  demonstration  of  her  own  help- 
lessness ;  and  perhaps  at  the  very  first  footstep  of 
the  investigation,  or  on  the  question  of  the  proxi- 
mate cause,  the  controversy  is  loudest  of  all.  But 
however  justly  of  the  proximate  cause  discovery 
may  be  made,  or  however  remotely  among  the 
anterior  causes  the  investigation  might  be  carried, 
never  will  proud  philosophy  be  able  to  annul  the 
intervention  of  a  God,  or  purchase  to  herself  the 
privilege  of  mocking  at  the  poor  man's  prayer. 
Indeed,  amid  the  exuberance  and  variety  of  spe- 
culation on  this  unsettled  and  unknown  subject, 
there  was  one  remote  cause  assigned  for  this 
pestilent  visitation,  which,  so  far  from  shutting 
out,  rather  suggests  and  that  most  forcibly  the 
intervention  of  a  God  immediately  before  it.  "  And 
it  shall  come  to  pass  in  that  day,  that  the  Lord 
shall  hiss  for  the  fly  that  is  in  the  uttermost  part 
of  the  rivers  of  Egypt,  and  for  the  bee  that  is  in 
the  land  of  Assyria:  and  they  shall  come,  and 
shall  rest  all  of  them  in  the  desolate  valleys,  and  in 
the  holes  of  the  rocks,  and  upon  all  thorns,  and  upon 
all  bushes."*  We  hope  to  have  made  it  plain  to 
you,  let  this  or  any  other  cause  be  found  the  true 
one,  that,  however  high  the  path  of  discovery 
may  have  been  traced,  yet  higher  still  there  is 
place  for  the  finger  of  a  God  above  to  regulate  all 
*  baiftU  vii.  ]b>  19, 


254  EFFICACY  OF  PRAYER 

the  designs  of  a  special  providence,  and  to  move 
in  conformity  with  all  the  accepted  prayers  of 
His  family  below.  But  among  the  scoffers  of  our 
latter  day,  even  in  the  absence  or  the  want  of  all 
discovery,  the  finger  of  a  God  is  disowned ;  and  it 
seems  to  mark  ho\v  resolute  and  at  the  same  time 
how  hopeless  is  the  infidelity  of  modern  times,  that, 
just  in  proportion  to  our  ignorance  of  all  the 
secondary  or  the  sensible  causes,  is  our  haughty 
refusal  of  any  homage  to  the  first  cause.  It  is 
passing  strange  of  this  disease,  that,  after  having 
baffled  every  attempt  to  find  out  its  dependence  on 
aught  that  is  on  earth,  the  idea  of  its  dependence  on 
the  will  of  Heaven  should  of  all  others  have  been 
laughed  most  impiously  to  scorn.  The  voice  of  de- 
rision and  defiance  was  first  heard  in  our  high  places ; 
and  thence  it  passed,  as  if  by  infection,  into  general 
society.  And  so,  many  have  disowned  the  power 
and  the  will  of  the  Deity  in  this  visitation.  They 
most  unphilosophically,  we  think,  as  well  as  im- 
piously have  spurned  at  prayer» 

But  we  cannot  pass  away  from  this  part  of  our 
subject,  without  adverting  to  a  recent  event,  the 
thought  of  which  is  at  present  irresistibly  obtruded 
on  us,  and  by  which  this  parish  and  congregation 
but  a  few  weeks  ago  have  been  deprived  of  one  of 
the  most  conspicuous  of  our  office-bearers — one 
who  constitutionally  the  kindest  and  most  indul- 
gent of  men,  was  the  most  alive  of  all  I  ever  knew 
to  the  wants  and  the  miseries  of  our  common 
nature ;  and  who  finely  alive  to  all  the  impulses 
and  soft  touches  of  humanity,  laboured  night  and 
day   in   the  vocation  of   doing  good  continually. 


AND  UNIFORMITY  OF  NATURF.  255 

But,  instead  of  saying  that  he  laboured,  I  should 
say  that  he  luxuriated  in  well  doing ;  for  never 
was  a  heart  more  attuned  to  ready  and  responsive 
agreement  with  the  calls  of  benevolence  than  his, 
and  sooner  would  I  believe  of  nature  that  she  had 
receded  from  her  constancy,  than  of  him  that  e'er 

"  He  looked  unmoved  on  misery's  languid  eye, 
Or  heard  her  sinking  voice  without  a  sigh." 

Of  all  the  recollections  which  the  friends  either 
of  my  youth  or  of  my   manhood  have  left  behind 
them  in  this  land  of  dying  men,  there  is  none  more 
beautifully  irradiated — whether  I  look  back  on  the 
mildness  of  his  christian  worth,  or  on  those  sensibili- 
ties of  an  open  and  generous  and  finely  attempered 
spirit,  which  gives  such  a  charm  to  human  compa- 
nionship.  And  as  the  second  great  law  is  like  unto 
the  first ;  so  that  love  of  his  which  went  forth  so 
diifusively    amongst   his    fellows  upon    earth,   we 
humbly  hope,  was  at  once  the  indication  and  the 
consequent  of  a  love  that  ascended  with  high  and 
habitual    aspiration    to    God  in  heaven.     It  was 
through  a  brief  and  tremendous  agony  that  he  was 
carried  from  the  world  of  sense  to  the  world  of 
spirits  ;  and  yet  it  is  a  happiness  to  be  told  that  the 
faith  and  hope  of  the  Gospel  h^hted  up  a  halo  over 
his   expiring  moments,  and   that,  ere   death  had 
t  closed   his    eyes,    he   through  nearly  an  hour  of 
audible  prayer  gave  his  last  testimony  to  the  truth 
as  it  is  in  Jesus.* 

*  This  notice  refers  to  John  Wilson,  Esq.,  Silk  merchant  in 
Glasgow,  who  was  Kirk  Treasurer  of  St.  John's,  and  to  the 
deep  regret  of  all  who  knew  him,  was  carried  off  by  cholera  in 
the  neighbourhood  of  Glasgow. 


256  EFFICACY  OF  PRAYER 

But  to  recal  ourselves  from  this  theme  of  sadness, 
we  trust  you  will  now  understand  of  every  event  in 
nature  or  history,  that  each  in  the  order  of  causa- 
tion is  preceded  by  a  train  which  went  before  it, 
and  that  man's  observations  can  extend  more  or 
less  a  certain  way  along  this  train,  till  they  are 
lost  in  the  undiscovered  and  at  length  undis- 
coverable  recesses  which  are  placed  beyond  the 
cognizance  of  the  human  faculties.  Now  it  is 
because  of  the  higher  and  unknown  part  which 
belongs  to  every  such  series  that  we  bid  you  respect 
the  lessons  of  piety,  for  God  hath  not  so  con- 
structed the  universe  as  to  remove  it  from  the 
hold  of  His  own  special  management  and  super- 
intendence ;  and  therefore,  not  in  one  thing  the 
Bible  tells  us,  but  in  every  thing  we  should  make 
our  requests  known  unto  God.  But  again,  it  is 
because  of  the  lower  and  the  known  or  ascertained 
and  strictly  uniform  part  which  belongs  to  every 
series,  that  we  bid  you  respect  the  lessons  of 
experience  ;  for  God  did  not  so  conduct  the  affairs 
of  His  universe,  as  to  thrust  forth  His  invisible 
hand  among  its  visible  successions ;  but  while  He 
keeps  a  perpetual  and  ascendant  hold  among  the 
springs  of  that  machinery  which  is  behind  the 
curtain,  He  leaves  untouched  all  those  wonted 
regularities,  which,  on  the  stage  of  observation,  are 
patent  to  human  eyes.  Kow  these  are  the 
respective  domains  of  philosophy  and  faith,  and 
this  is  the  use  to  be  made  of  them.  Looking  to 
the  one,  we  learn  the  subordination  of  all  nature. 
Looking  to  the  other,  we  learn  the  constancy  of 
visible  nature.     These  great  truths  harmonize; 


AND  UNIFORMITY  OF  NATURE.  257 

and  between  the  lessons  which  they  give,  there  is 
the  fullest  harmony.  He  who  is  enlightened  and 
acts  upon  both  is  at  one  and  the  same  time  a  man 
of  prudence  and  a  man  of  prayer  ;  who  never  loses 
his  confidence  in  God,  yet,  as  awake  to  the  mani- 
festations of  experience  as  if  they  were  the  mani- 
festations of  the  divine  will,  never  counts  upon  a 
miracle.  He  holds  perpetual  converse  with  heaven ; 
yet  shapes  his  earthly  conduct  by  his  earthly 
circumstances.  In  his  habits  of  diligence  he 
proceeds  on  the  uniformity  of  visible  nature,  and 
he  does  accordingly.  In  his  habits  of  devotion  he 
knows  that  there  is  a  visible  power  above  which 
subordinates  all  nature,  and  he  prays  accordingly. 
He  is  neither  the  mystic  who  will  not  act,  nor  is 
he  the  infidel  who  will  not  pray.  He  knows  how 
to  combine  both,  or  how  to  combine  wisdom  with 
piety — that  rare  and  beauteous  combination 
unknown  to  the  world  at  large,  yet  reahzed  by 
many  a  cottage  patriarch,  who,  without  attempting, 
without  being  capable  in  fact  of  any  profound  or 
philosophical  adjustment  between  them,  but  on  his 
simple  understanding  alone  of  Scripture  lessons 
and  Scripture  examples,  unites  the  most  strenuous 
diligence  in  the  use  of  means,  with  the  strictest 
dependence  upon  God.  Without  the  combination 
of  these  two,  there  has  been  nothing  great,  nothing 
eifective  in  the  history  of  the  church ;  and,  on  the 
other  hand,  we  find  that  all  the  most  illustrious, 
whether  in  philanthropy  or  in  christian  patriotism, 
from  the  apostle  Paul  to  the  highest  names  in  the 
descending  history  of  the  world,  as  Augustine  and 
Luther  and  Knox  and  Howard,  that,  superadding 


258  EFFICACY  OF  PRAYER 

the  wisdom  of  experience  to  a  sense  of  deepest 
piety,  they  were  at  once  men  of  performance  and 
men  of  prayer. 

But  let  us  look  for  a  moment  to  the  highest 
example  of  all,  even  that  of  our  Saviour  when  on 
earth ;  for  in  the  history  of  His  temptation,  will 
the  eye  of  the  diligent  observer  recognize  an 
application  and  a  moral,  which  serve,  we  think  very 
finely,  to  illustrate  our  whole  argument. 

The  first  proposal  of  the  adversary  was,  that, 
because  an  hungered  by  the  abstinence  of  forty 
days  and  forty  nights  in  the  wilderness,  he  should 
turn  stones  into  bread ;  and  the  reply  of  our 
Saviour  that  "  man  liveth  not  by  bread  alone  but 
by  every  word  which  cometh  out  of  the  mouth  of 
God"  bespoke  His  confidence  in  that  Supreme 
Power  which  overrules  all  nature.  Now  observe 
how  this  is  followed  up  by  tlie  tempter — since  such 
His  confidence  I  may  perhaps  prevail  upon  Him 
to  cast  Himself  from  the  pinnacle  of  the  temple, 
employing  the  very  argument  He  just  has  used, 
even  the  overruling  power  of  that  God  who  can 
bear  Him  up  by  the  intervention  of  angels  lest  He 
dash  his  foot  against  a  stone.  The  reply  "  thou 
shalt  not  tempt  the  Lord  thy  God"  tells  us,  that 
the  same  Being  who  overrules  all  nature,  never 
interferes,  but  for  some  worthy  and  great  purpose 
to  thwart  the  established  successions  of  visible 
nature ;  and  that  it  is  wrong,  it  is  wanton,  in  any 
of  His  creatures  so  to  act,  as  if  he  counted  upon 
such  an  interference.  It  is  a  noble  lesson  for  us 
never  to  traverse  or  neglect  the  means  which  expe- 
rience hath  told  us  arc  effectual  for  good ;  and  never 


AND  UNirOIlMITY  OF  NATURE.  259 

to  brave,  but  at  the  call  of  imperious  duty,  the 
exposures  which  the  same  experience  has  told  us, 
on  our  knowledge  or  recollection  of  Nature's 
established  processes,  are  followed  up  by  evil.  Our 
Saviour  would  not,  in  defiance  to  the  law  of 
gravitation,  cast  Himself  off  from  that  place  of 
security  which  upheld  Him  against  its  power. 
And  neither  should  we  ever,  though  in  defiance 
but  to  the  probable  law  of  contagion,  or  by  what  (to 
borrow  a  usual  phrase)  might  well  be  termed  a 
tempting  of  Providence,  refuse  those  places  or  cast 
away  those  measures  of  security,  that  are  found  to 
protect  us  against  the  virulence  of  this  destroyer. 
In  a  word,  between  the  wisdom  of  piety  and  the 
wisdom  of  experience  there  is  most  profound 
harmony— unknown  to  the  infidel,  and  so  he  hath 
cast  off  prayer  ;  unknown  to  the  fanatic,  and  so  he 
hath  cast  prudence  away  from  him. 

And  we  appeal  to  you,  my  brethren,  if  there  be 
not  much  in  the  state  and  recent  history  of  our 
nation  to  confirm  these  views.  We  rejoiced  in  the 
appointment  several  months  ago  of  a  national  fast, 
and  that  notwithstanding  the  contempt  and  annoy- 
ance of  the  many  infidel  manifestations  to  which 
the  appointment  had  been  exposed — hoping,  as 
we  then  did,  that  it  would  meet  with  a  duteous 
and  a  general  response  from  the  people  of  the  land ; 
and  perceiving  afterwards,  in  our  limited  sphere, 
the  obvious  solemnity,  and  we  trust  in  a  goodly 
number  of  instances,  the  deep  and  heart-felt 
sacredness  of  its  observation  among  our  families. 
It  is  well  that  there  should  be  a  public  and  a  prayer- 
ful recognition  of  God  in  the  midst  of  us ;  and  we 


260  1EFFICACY  OF  PRAYER 

have  failed  in  our  argumenr,  we  have  failed, 
w^hether  from  the  obscurity  of  its  illustrations  or 
the  obscurity  of  its  terms,  in  obtaining  for  it  the 
sympathy  of  your  understandings — if  you  perceive 
not,  that,  in  the  distinct  relation  of  cause  and  elFect, 
there  is  a  real  substantive  connection  between  the 
supplications  which  ascend  for  health  and  safety 
from  the  midst  of  a  land,  and  the  actual  warding 
off  of  disease  and  death  from  its  habitations.  But 
in  fullest  harmony  with  this  it  is  also  well,  I  would 
go  farther  and  say  there  is  no  infringement  upon 
deepest  piety  in  pronouncing  it  indispensable — that 
while  we  invoke  the  Heavenly  Agent  who  sitteth 
above  for  every  effectual  blessing,  all  the  earthly 
means  and  earthly  instruments  should  be  in  com- 
plete and  orderly  preparation.  We  are  aware  that 
in  many  places  and  on  many  occasions  these  have 
been  rebelled  against.*  And  it  but  enhances  the  les- 
son, beside  carrying  amost  impressive  rebuke,  both 
to  the  fanaticism  of  an  ill-understood  Christianity; 
and  to  the  ignorant  frenzy  of  an  ill-educated  and, 
in  respect  to  the  woeful  deficiency  both  of  churches 
and  schools,  we  would  say  a  neglected  population 
— that  just  in  those  places  where  the  offered  help 
of  the  physician  was  most  strenuously  and  most 


*  In  Edinburgh  the  metropolis  of  medical  science,  a  vigorous 
system  of  expedients  was  instituted  ;  and  nothing  could  exceed  the 
promptitude  and  the  watchfulness  and  the  activity,  at  a  moment's 
call,  wherewith  the  disease  was  met  and  repressed  at  every  point 
of  its  outbreakings.  And  we  cannot  imagine  a  more  striking 
demonstration  for  the  importance  of  human  agency,  diligently 
operating  on  all  the  resources  which  Nature  and  experience  have 
placed  within  our  reach,  than  is  furnished  by  a  comparison  between 
the  perfection  of  our  city  arrangements,  and  the  fewness  of  our 
city  deaths. 


AND  UNIFORMITY  OF  NATURE.  261 

ungratefully  resisted,  and  at  times  indeed  by- 
violence  overborne,  that  there  it  was  where  the 
disease  reasserted  its  power,  and  as  if  with  the 
hand  of  an  avenger  shook  menace  and  terror  among 
the  families.  As  if  the  same  God  who  bids  us  in 
His  word  make  request  unto  Him  in  all  things, 
would  furthermore  tell  us  by  His  Providence,  that, 
in  no  one  thing  will  He  permit  a  heedless  invasion 
on  the  regularities  of  that  course  which  He  Himself 
has  established ;  that  with  His  own  hand  He 
ordained  the  footsteps  of  Nature,  and  He  will 
chastise  the  presumption  of  those  who  shall  think 
to  contravene  the  ordinance;  that  experience  is 
the  school-master  authorized  by  Him  for  the 
government  and  guidance  of  His  family  on  earth, 
and  that  He  will  resent  the  outrage  done  to  her 
authority  whenever  her  lessons  or  her  laws  are 
wantonly  violated. 

In  conclusion  let  us  observe,  that,  on  the  one  hand, 
we  shall  be  glad  if  aught  that  has  been  said  will 
help  to  conciliate  our  mere  religionists  to  the  lessons 
of  experience  and  of  sound  philosophy ;  and,  in 
opposition  to  those  senseless  prejudices,  by  which 
they  have  often  brought  the  most  unmerited  deri- 
sion and  discredit  on  their  own  cause,  we  would 
remind  them  that  it  is  not  all  philosophy  which 
Scripture  denounces,  but  only  vain  philosophy — it 
is  not  all  science  which  it  deprecates,  but  only  the 
science  falsely  so  called.  On  the  other  hand  we 
should  rejoice  in  witnessing  the  mere  philosopher, 
or  man  of  secular  and  experimental  wisdom,  more 
conciliated  than  he  is  to  the  lessons  of  Religion, 
and  to  that  humble  faith  which  is  the  great  and 


262  EFFICACY  OF  PRAYER,  &C. 

actuating  spirit  of  its  observations  and  its  pieties 
and  its  prayers.  We  have  heard  that  the  study  of 
Natural  Science  disposes  to  InfideUty.  But  we 
feel  persuaded  that  this  is  a  danger  only  associated 
with  a  slight  and  partial,  never  with  a  deep  and 
adequate  and  comprehensive  view  of  its  principles. 
It  is  very  possible  that  the  conjunction  between 
science  and  scepticism  may  at  present  be  more 
frequently  realised  than  in  former  days  ;  but  this  is 
only  because,  in  spite  of  all  that  is  alleged  about  this 
our  more  enlightened  day  and  more  enlightened 
public,  our  science  is  neither  so  deeply  founded  nor 
of  such  firm  and  thorough  staple  as  it  wont  to  be. 
We  have  lost  in  depth  what  we  have  gained  in 
diffusion — having  neither  the  massive  erudition,  nor 
the  gigantic  scholarship,  nor  the  profound  and 
well-laid  philosophy  of  a  period  that  has  now  gone 
by ;  and  it  is  to  this  that  infidelity  stands  indebted 
for  her  triumphs  among  the  scoffers  and  the  super- 
ficialists  of  a  half-learned  generation. 


TRANSITORINESS  OF  VISIBLE  THINGS.       263 


DISCOURSE  HI. 

THE  TRANSITORY  NATURE  OF  VISIBLE 
THINGS. 


•«  The  things  which  are  seen  are  temporal." — 2  Cor.  iv.  18. 

The  assertion  that  the  thmgs  which  are  seen  are 
temporal,  holds  true  in  the  absolute  and  universal 
sense  of  it.  They  had  a  beginning,  and  they  will 
have  an  end.  Should  we  go  upward  through  the 
stream  of  ages  that  are  past,  we  come  to  a  time 
when  they  were  not.  Should  we  go  onward  through 
the  stream  of  ages  that  are  before  us,  we  come  to 
a  time  when  they  will  be  no  more.  It  is  indeed  a 
most  mysterious  flight  which  the  imagination  ven- 
tures upon,  when  it  goes  back  to  the  eternity  that 
is  behind  us — when  it  mounts  its  ascending  way 
through  the  millions  and  the  millions  of  years  that 
are  already  gone  through,  and  stop  where  it  may, 
it  finds  the  line  of  its  march  always  lengthening 
beyond  it,  and  losing  itself  in  the  obscurity  of  as 
far  removed  a  distance  as  ever.  It  soon  reaches 
the  commencement  of  visible  things,  or  that  point 
in  its  progress  when  God  made  the  heavens  and 
the  earth.  They  had  a  beginning,  but  God  had 
none ;  and  what  a  wonderful  field  for  the  fancy  to 
expatiate  on,  when  we  get  above  the  era  of  created 
worlds,  and  think  of  that  period  when,  in  respect 
of  all  that  is  visible,  the  immensity  around  us  vras 


264      TRANSITORINESS  OF  VISIBLE  THINGS. 

one  vast  and  unpeopled  solitude.  But  God  was 
there  in  his  dwelling  place,  for  it  is  said  of  Him, 
that  He  inhabits  eternity ;  and  the  Son  of  God  was 
there,  for  we  read  of  the  glory  which  He  had  with 
the  Father  before  the  world  was.  The  mind  cannot 
sustain  itself  under  the  burden  of  these  lofty  contem- 
plations. It  cannot  lift  the  curtain  which  shrouds 
the  past  eternity  of  God.  But  it  is  good  for  the 
soul  to  be  humbled  under  a  sense  of  its  incapacity. 
It  is  good  to  realize  the  impression  which  too  often 
abandons  us,  that  He  made  us,  and  not  we  ourselves. 
It  is  good  to  feel  how  all  that  is  temporal  lies  in 
passive  and  prostrate  subordination  before  the  will 
of  the  uncreated  God.  It  is  good  to  know  how- 
little  a  portion  it  is  that  we  see  of  Him  and  of  His 
mysterious  ways.  It  is  good  to  he  at  the  feet  of 
His  awful  and  unknown  majesty — and  while  secret 
things  belong  to  Him,  it  is  good  to  bring  with  us 
all  the  helplessness  and  docility  of  children  to  those 
revealed  lessons  which  belong  to  us  and  to  our 
children. 

But  this  is  not  the  sense  in  which  the  temporal 
nature  of  visible  things  is  taken  up  by  the  Apostle. 
It  is  not  that  there  is  a  time  past  in  which  they  did 
not  exist — but  that  there  is  a  time  to  come  in  which 
they  will  exist  no  more.  He  calls  them  temporal, 
because  the  time  and  the  duration  of  their  existence 
will  have  an  end.  His  eye  is  full  upon  futurity. 
It  is  the  passing  away  of  visible  things  in  the  time 
that  is  to  come,  and  the  ever  during  nature  of  invisi- 
ble things  through  the  eternity  that  is  to  come, 
which  the  Apostle  is  contemplating.  Now,  on  this 
one  point  we  say  nothing  about  the  positive  anni- 


TRANSITORINESS  OF  VISIBLE  THINGS.      265 

hilation  of  the  matter  of  visible  things.  There  is 
reason  for  believing,  that  some  of  the  matter  of  our 
present  bodies  may  exist  in  those  more  glorified  and 
transformed  bodies  which  we  are  afterwards  to 
occupy.  And  for  any  thing  we  know,  the  matter 
of  the  present  world,  and  of  the  present  system 
may  exist  in  those  new  heavens  and  that  new  earth, 
wherein  dwelleth  righteousness.  There  may  be  a 
transfiguration  of  matter  without  a  destruction  of  it 
— and,  therefore  it  is,  that  when  we  assert  with  the 
Apostle  in  the  text,  how  things  seen  are  temporal, 
we  shall  not  say  more  than  that  the  substance  of 
these  things,  if  not  consigned  back  again  to  the 
nothing  from  which  they  had  emerged,  will  be 
employed  in  the  formation  of  other  things  totally 
different — that  the  change  will  be  so  great,  as  that 
all  old  things  may  be  said  to  have  passed  away,  and 
all  things  to  become  new — that  after  the  wreck  of 
the  last  conflagration,  the  desolated  scene  will  be 
repeopled  with  other  objects ;  the  righteous  will  live 
in  another  world,  and  the  eye  of  the  glorified  body 
will  open  on  another  field  of  contemplation  from 
that  which  is  now  visible  around  us. 

Now,  in  this  sense  of  the  word  temporal,  the 
•  assertion  of  my  text  may  be  carried  round  to  all 
that  is  visible.  Even  those  objects  which  men  are 
most  apt  to  count  upon  as  unperishable,  because, 
without  any  sensible  decay,  they  have  stood  the 
lapse  of  many  ages,  will  not  weather  the  lapse  of 
eternity.  This  earth  will  be  burnt  up.  The  light 
of  yonder  sun  will  be  extinguished.  These  stars 
will  cease  from  their  twinkling.  The  heavens  will 
}>ass  away  as  a  scroll — and  as  to  those  solid  and 
voL.v;i.  xi 


2C6        TRANSITORINESS  OF  VISIBLE  THINGS. 

enormous  mases  which,  like  the  firm  world  we  tread 
upon,  roll  in  mighty  circuit  through  the  immensity 
around  us,  it  seems  the  solemn  language  of  revela- 
tion of  one  and  all  of  them,  that  from  the  face  of 
Him  who  sitteth  on  the  throne,  the  earth  and  the 
heavens  will  fly  away,  and  there  will  be  found  no 
place  for  them. 

Even  apart  from  the  Bible,  the  eye  of  observation 
can  witness,  in  some  of  the  hardest  and  firmest 
materials  of  the  present  system,  the  evidence  of  its 
approaching  dissolution.  What  more  striking,  for 
example,  than  the  natural  changes  which  take  place 
on  the  surface  of  the  world,  and  which  prove  that 
the  strongest  of  Nature's  elements  must,  at  last, 
yield  to  the  operation  of  time  and  of  decay — that 
yonder  towering  mountain,  though  propped  by  the 
rocky  battlements  which  surround  it,  must  at  last 
sink  under  the  power  of  corruption — that  every 
year  brings  it  nearer  to  its  end — that  at  this  moment, 
it  is  wasting  silently  away,  and  letting  itself  down 
from  the  lofty  eminence  which  it  now  occupies — 
that  the  torrent  which  falls  from  its  side  never  ceases 
to  consume  its  substance,  and  to  carry  it  off  in  the 
form  of  sediment  to  the  ocean — that  the  frost  which 
assails  it  in  winter  loosens  the  solid  rock,  detaches 
it  in  pieces  from  the  main  precipice,  and  makes  it 
fall  in  fragments  to  its  base — that  the  power  of  the 
weather  scales  off  the  most  flinty  materials,  and  that 
the  wind  of  heaven  scatters  them  in  dust  over  the 
surrounding  country — that  even  though  not  antici- 
pated by  the  sudden  and  awful  convulsions  of  the 
day  of  God's  wrath,  nature  contains  within  itself 
the  rudiments  of  decay — that  every  hiil  must  be 


TRANSITORINESS  OF  VISIBLE  THINGS.        267 

levelled  with  the  plains,  and  every  plain  be  swept 
away  by  the  constant  operation  of  the  rivers  which 
run  through  it — and  that,  unless  renewed  by  the 
hand  of  the  Almighty,  the  earth  on  which  we  are 
now  treading  must  disappear  in  the  mighty  roil  of 
ages  and  of  centuries.  We  cannot  take  our  flight 
to  other  worlds,  or  have  a  near  view  of  the  changes 
to  which  they  are  liable.  But  surely  if  this  world, 
which,  with  its  mighty  apparatus  of  continents  and 
islands,  looks  so  healthful  and  so  firm  after  the 
wear  of  many  centuries,  is  posting  visibly  to  its  end, 
we  may  be  prepared  to  believe  that  the  principles 
of  destruction  are  also  at  work  in  other  provinces 
of  the  visible  creation — and  that  though  of  old  God 
laid  the  foundation  of  the  earth,  and  the  heavens 
are  the  work  of  his  hands,  yet  they  shall  perish ; 
yea,  all  of  them  shall  wax  old  like  a  garment,  and 
as  a  vesture  shall  He  change  them,  and  they  shall 
be  changed. 

We  should  be  out  of  place  in  all  this  style  of 
observation,  did  we  not  follow  it  up  with  the  senti- 
ment of  the  Psalmist,  ''  These  shall  perish,  but 
thou  shalt  endure ;  for  thou  art  the  same,  and  thy 
years  have  no  end."  What  a  lofty  conception  does 
it  give  us  of  the  majesty  of  God,  when  we  think 
how  He  sits  above,  and  presides  in  high  authority 
over  this  mighty  series  of  changes — when  after 
sinking  under  our  attempts  to  trace  him  through 
the  eternity  that  is  behind,  we  look  on  the  present 
system  of  things,  and  are  taught  to  believe  That 
it  is  but  a  single  step  in  the  march  of  His  grand 
administrations  through  the  eternity  that  is  before 
us — when  we  think  of  this  goodly  universe,  sum^ 


268       TRANSITORINESS  OF  VISIBLE  THINGS. 

moned  into  being  to  serve  some  temporary  evolution 
of  His  great  and  mysterious  plan — when  we  think 
of  the  time  when  it  shall  be  broken  up,  and  out  of 
its  disordered  fragments  other  scenes  and  other 
systems  shall  emerge — surely,  when  fatigued  with 
the  vastness  of  these  contemplations,  it  well  becomes 
us  to  do  the  homage  of  our  reverence  and  wonder 
to  the  one  Spirit  which  conceives  and  animates  the 
w^hole,  and  to  the  one  noble  design  which  runs 
through  all  its  fluctuations. 

But  there  is  another  way  in  which  the  objects 
that  are  seen  are  temporal.  The  object  may  not 
merely  be  removed  from  us,  but  we  may  be  removed 
from  the  object.  The  disappearance  of  this  earth, 
and  of  these  heavens  from  us,  we  look  upon  through 
the  dimness  of  a  far-placed  futurity.  It  is  an  event, 
therefore,  which  may  regale  our  imagination ;  which 
may  lift  our  mind  by  its  sublimity;  which  may 
disengage  us  in  the  calm  hour  of  meditation  from 
the  littleness  of  life,  and  of  its  cares ;  and  which 
may  even  throw  a  clearness  and  a  solemnity  over 
our  intercourse  with  God.  But  such  an  event  as 
this  does  not  come  home  upon  our  hearts  with  the 
urgency  of  a  personal  interest.  It  does  not  carry 
along  with  it  the  excitement  which  lies  in  the  near- 
ness of  an  immediate  concern.  It  does  not  fall 
with  such  vivacity  upon  our  conceptions,  as  prac- 
tically to  tell  on  our  pursuits,  or  any  of  our  purposes. 
It  may  elevate  and  solemnize  us,  but  this  effect  is 
p^ifectly  consistent  with  its  having  as  little  influence 
on  the  walk  of  the  living,  and  the  moving,  and  the 
acting  man,  as  a  dream  of  poetry.  The  Preacher 
may  think  that  he  has  done  great  things  with  his 


TRANSITORINESS  OF  VISIBLE  THINGS.      269 

eloquence— and  tlie  hearers  may  think  that  great 
things  have  been  done  upon  them — for  they  felt  a 
fine  glow  of  emotion,  when  they  heard  of  God 
sitting  in  the  majesty  of  His  high  counsels,  over 
the  progress  and  the  destiny  of  created  things. 
But  the  truth  is,  that  all  this  kindling  of  devotion 
which  is  felt  upon  the  contemplation  of  His  great- 
ness, may  exist  in  the  same  bosom,  with  an  utter 
distaste  for  the  holiness  of  His  character ;  with  an 
entire  alienation  of  the  heart  and  of  the  habits  from 
the  obedience  of  His  law ;  and  above  all,  with  a 
most  nauseous  and  invincible  contempt  for  the 
spiritualities  of  that  revelation,  in  which  He  has 
actually  made  known  His  will  and  His  ways  to  us. 
The  devotion  of  mere  taste  is  one  thing— the  devo- 
tion of  principle  is  another.  And  as  surely  as  a 
man  may  weep  over  the  elegant  sufferings  of  poetry, 
yet  add  to  the  real  sufferings  of  life  by  peevishness 
in  his  family,  and  insolence  among  his  neighbours 

so,  surely  may  a  man  be  wakened  to  rapture  by 

the  magnificence  of  God,  while  his  life  is  deformed 
by  its  rebellions,  and  his  heart  rankles  with  all  the 
foulness  of  idolatry  against  Him. 

Well,  then,  let  us  try  the  other  way  of  bringing 
the  temporal  nature  of  visible  things  to  bear  upon 
your  interests.  It  is  true,  that  this  earth,  and 
these  heavens,  will  at  length  disappear ;  but  they 
may  outlive  our  posterity  for  many  generations. 
However,  if  they  disappear  not  from  us,  we  most 
certainly  shall  disappear  from  them.  They  will 
soon  cease  to  be  any  thing  to  you — and  though  the 
splendour  and  variety  of  all  that  is  visible  around 
us,  should  last  for  thousands  of  centuries,  your  eyes 


270       TRANSITORINESS  OF  VISIBLE  THINGS. 

will  soon  be  closed  upon  them.  The  time  is  coming 
when  this  goodly  scene  shall  reach  its  positive  con- 
summation. But,  in  all  likelihood,  the  time  is 
coming  much  sooner,  when  you  shall  resign  the 
breath  of  your  nostrils,  and  bid  a  final  adieu  to 
every  thing  around  you.  Let  this  earth,  and  these 
heavens  be  as  enduring  as  they  may,  to  you  they 
are  fugitive  as  vanity.  Time,  with  its  mighty 
strides,  w^ill  soon  reach  a  future  generation,  and 
leave  the  present  in  death  and  in  forgetfulness  behind 
it.  The  grave  will  close  upon  every  one  of  you, 
and  that  is  the  dark  and  the  silent  cavern  where 
no  voice  is  heard,  and  the  light  of  the  sun  never 
enters. 

But  more  than  this.  Though  we  live  too  short 
a  time  to  see  the  great  changes  which  are  carrying 
on  in  the  universe,  we  live  long  enough  to  see  many 
of  its  changes — and  such  changes  too  as  are  best 
fitted  to  warn  and  to  teach  us ;  even  the  changes 
which  take  place  in  society,  made  up  of  human 
beings  as  frail  and  as  fugitive  as  ourselves.  Death 
moves  us  away  from  many  of  those  objects  w^hich 
are  seen  and  temporal — but  we  live  long  enough 
to  see  many  of  these  objects  moved  away  from  us 
— to  see  acquaintances  falling  every  year — to  see 
families  broken  up  by  the  rough  and  unsparing 
hand  of  death — to  see  houses  and  neighbourhoods 
shifting  their  inhabitants — to  see  a  new  race,  and 
a  new  generation — and,  whether  in  church  or  in 
market,  to  see  unceasing  changes  in  the  faces  of  the 
people  who  repair  to  them.  We  know  well,  that 
there  is  a  poetic  melancholy  inspired  by  such  a 
picture  as  this,  which  is  altogether  unfruitful — and 


TRANSITORINESS  OF  VISIBLE  THINGS.       271 

that  totally  apart  from  religion,  a  man  may  give 
way  to  the  luxury  of  tears,  when  he  thinks  how 
friends  drop  away  from  him — how  every  year  brings 
along  with  it  some  sad  addition  to  the  registers  of 
death — how  the  kind  and  hospitable  mansion  is  left 
without  a  tenant — and  how,  when  you  knock  at  a 
neighbour's  door,  you  find  that  he  who  welcomed 
you,  and  made  you  happy,  is  no  longer  there.  O 
that  we  could  impress  by  all  this,  a  salutary  direc- 
tion on  the  fears  and  on  the  consciences  of  individuals 
— that  we  could  give  them  a  living  impression  of 
that  coming  day,  when  they  shall  severally  share  in 
the  general  wreck  of  the  species — when  each  of 
you  shall  be  one  of  the  many  whom  the  men  of  the 
next  generation  may  remember  to  have  lived  in 
yonder  street,  or  laboured  in  yonder  manufactory 
— when  they  shall  speak  of  you,  just  as  you  speak 
of  the  men  of  the  former  generation — who,  when 
they  died,  had  a  few  tears  dropped  over  their 
memory,  and  for  a  few  years  will  still  continue  to 
be  talked  of.  O  could  we  succeed  in  giving  you 
a  real  and  living  impression  of  all  this ;  and  then 
may  we  hope  to  carry  the  lesson  of  John  the  Baptist 
with  energy  to  your  fears,  "  Flee  from  the  coming 
wrath."  But  there  is  something  so  very  deceiving 
in  the  progress  of  time.  Its  progress  is  so  gradual. 
To-day  is  so  like  yesterday  that  we  are  not  sensible 
of  its  departure.  We  should  make  head  against 
this  delusion.  We  should  turn  to  personal  ac- 
count every  example  of  change  or  of  mortality. 
When  the  clock  strikes,  it  should  remind  you  of 
the  dying  hour.  When  you  hear  the  sound  of  the 
funeral  bell,  you  should  think,  that  in  a  little  time 


272       TRANSITORINESS  OF  VISIBLE  THINGS. 

it  will  perform  for  you  the  same  office.  When  you 
wake  in  the  morning,  you  should  think  that  there 
has  been  the  addition  of  another  day  to  the  life  that 
is  past,  and  the  subtraction  of  another  day  from 
the  remainder  of  your  journey.  When  the  shades 
of  the  evening  fall  around  you,  you  should  think  of 
the  steady  and  invariable  progress  of  time — how  the 
sun  moves  and  moves  till  it  will  see  you  out — and 
how  it  will  conthlue  to  move  after  you  die,  and  see 
out  your  children's  children  to  the  latest  generations. 
Every  thing  around  us  should  impress  the  mutability 
of  human  affairs.  An  acquaintance  dies — you  will 
soon  follow  him.  A  family  moves  from  the  neigh- 
bourhood— learn  that  the  works  of  man  are  given 
to  change.  New  families  succeed — sit  loose  to  the 
world,  and  withdraw  your  affections  from  its  unstable 
and  fluctuating  interests.  Time  is  rapid,  though 
w^e  observe  not  its  rapidity.  The  days  that  are 
past  appear  like  the  twinkling  of  a  vision.  The 
days  that  are  to  come  will  soon  have  a  period,  and 
will  appear  to  have  performed  their  course  with 
equal  rapidity.  We  talk  of  our  fathers  and  our 
grandfathers,  who  figured  their  day  in  the  theatre 
of  the  w^orld.  In  a  little  time,  we  will  be  the 
ancestors  of  a  future  age.  Posterity  will  talk  of 
us  as  of  the  men  that  are  gone — and  our  remem- 
brance will  soon  depart  from  the  face  of  the  country. 
When  we  attend  the  burial  of  an  acquaintance,  we 
see  the  bones  of  the  men  of  other  times — in  a  few 
years,  our  bodies  will  be  mangled  by  the  power  of 
corruption,  and  be  thrown  up  in  loose  and  scattered 
fragments  among  the  earth  of  the  new  made  grave. 
When  we  wander  among  the  tombstones  of  the 


TRANSITORINESS  OF  VISIBLE  THINGS.       216 

clmrch-yard  we  can  scarcely  follow  the  mutilated 
letters  that  compose  the  simple  story  of  the  inhabi- 
tant below.  In  a  little  time,  and  the  tomb  that 
covers  us  will  moulder  by  the  power  of  the  seasons 
. — and  the  letters  will  be  eaten  away — and  the  story 
that  was  to  perpetuate  our  remembrance,  will  elude 
the  gaze  of  some  future  inquirer. 

We  know  that  time  is  short,  but  none  of  us  know 
how  short.  *We  know  that  it  will  not  go  beyond 
a  certain  limit  of  years ;  but  none  of  us  know  how 
small  the  number  of  years,  or  months,  or  days  may 
be.  For  death  is  at  work  upon  all  ages.  The 
fever  of  a  few  days  may  hurry  the  likeliest  of  us  all 
from  this  land  of  mortality.  The  cold  of  a  few 
weeks  may  settle  into  some  lingering  but  irrecover- 
able disease.  In  one  instant  the  bloocl  of  him  who 
has  the  ^promise  of  many  years,  may  cease  its' 
circulation.  Accident  may  assail  us.  A  shght 
fall  may  precipitate  us  into  eternity.  An  exposure 
to  rain  may  lay  us  on  the  bed  of  our  last  sickness, 
from  which  we  are  never  more  to  rise.  A  little 
spark  may  kindle  the  midnight  conflagration,  which 
lays  a  house  and  its  inhabitants  in  ashes.  A  stroke 
of  hghtning  may  arrest  the  current  of  life  in  a 
twinkUng.  A  gust  of  wind  may  overturn  the  vessel, 
and  lay  the  unwary  passenger  in  a  watery  grave. 
A  thousand  dangers  beset  us  on  the  slippery  path 
of  this  world ;  and  no  age  is  exempted  from  them 
— and  from  the  infant  that  hangs  on  its  mother's 
bosom,  to  the  old  man  who  sinks  under  the  decre- 
pitude of  years,  we  see  death  in  aU  its  woeful  and 
affecting  varieties. 

You  may  think  it  strange — but  even  still  we  fear, 
M  2 


274       TRANSITORINESS  OF  VISIBLE  THINGS. 

we  may  have  done  little  in  the  way  of  sending  a 
fruitful  impression  into  your  consciences.  We  are 
too  well  aware  of  the  distinction  between  serious- 
ness of  feeling,  and  seriousness  of  principle,  to  think 
that  upon  the  strength  of  any  such  moving  represen- 
tation as  we  are  now  indulging  in,  we  shall  be  able 
to  dissipate  that  confounded  spell  which  chains  you 
to  the  world,  to  reclaim  your  v/andering  affections, 
or  to  send  you  back  to  your  weekday  business 
more  pure,  and  more  heavenly.  But  sure  we  are 
you  ought  to  be  convinced,  that  all  which  binds 
you  so  cleavingly  to  the  dust  is  infatuation  and 
vanity;  that  there  is  something  most  lamentably 
wrong  in  your  being  carried  away  by  the  delusions 
of  time — and  this  is  a  conviction  which  should  make 
you  feel  restless  and  dissatisfied.  We  are  well 
aware,  that  it  is  not  human  eloquence,  or  human 
illustration,  that  can  accomplish  a  victory  over  the 
obstinate  principles  of  human  corruption — and  there- 
fore it  is  that  we  feel  as  if  we  did  not  advance  aright 
through  a  single  step  of  a  sermon,  unless  we  look 
for  the  influences  of  that  mighty  Spirit,  who  alone 
is  able  to  enlighten  and  arrest  you — and  may 
employ  even  so  humble  an  instrument  as  the  voice 
of  a  fellow  mortal,  to  send  into  your  heart  the 
inspiration  of  understanding. 

We  now  shortly  insist  on  the  truth,  that  the 
things  which  are  not  seen  are  eternal.  No  man 
hath  seen  God  at  any  time,  and  He  is  eternal.  It 
is  said  of  Christ,  "  whom  having  not  seen,  we  love, 
and  he  is  the  same  to-day,  yesterday,  and  for  ever." 
It  is  said  of  the  Spirit,  that,  like  the  wind  of 
heaven,  He  eludes  tne  observation,  and  no  man 


TRANSITORINESS  OF  VISIBLE  THINGS.       275 

can  tell  of  him  whence  He  cometh,  or  whither  He 
goetli — and  He  is  called  the  Eternal  Spirit,  through 
whom  the  Son  offered  Himself  up  without  spot 
unto  God.  We  are  quite  aware,  that  the  idea 
suggested  by  the  eternal  things  which  are  spoken 
of  in  our  text,  is  heaven,  with  all  its  circumstances 
of  splendour  and  enjoyment.  This  is  an  object 
which,  even  on  the  principles  of  taste,  we  take  a 
delight  in  contemplating :  and  it  is  also  an  object 
set  before  us  in  the  Scriptures,  though  with  a  very 
sparing  and  reserved  hand.  All  the  descriptions 
we  have  of  heaven  there,  are  general,  very  general. 
We  read  of  the  beauty  of  the  heavenly  crown,  of 
the  unfading  nature  of  the  heavenly  inheritance,  of 
the  splendour  of  the  heavenly  city — and  these  have 
been  seized  upon  by  men  of  imagination,  who,  in 
the  construction  of  their  fancied  paradise,  have 
embellished  it  with  every  image  of  peace,  and  bliss, 
and  loveliness ;  and,  at  all  events,  have  thrown  over 
it  that  most  kindling  of  all  conceptions,  the  mag- 
nificence of  eternity.  Now,  such  a  picture  as  this 
has  the  certain  effect  of  ministering  delight  to  every 
glowing  and  susceptible  imagination.  And  here 
lies  the  deep-laid  delusion,  which  we  have  occasion- 
ally hinted  at.  A  man  Hstens,  in  the  first  instance, 
to  a  pathetic  and  high  wrought  narrative  on  the 
vanities  of  time — and  it  touches  him  even  to  the 
tenderness  of  tears.  He  looks,  in  the  second 
instance,  to  the  fascinating  perspective  of  another 
scene,  rising  in  all  the  glories  of  immortality  from 
the  dark  ruins  of  the  tomb,  and  he  feels  within  him 
all  those  ravishments  of  fancy,  which  any  vision  of 
united  grandeur  and  loveliness  would  inspire.    Take 


276       TRANSITORINESS  OF  VISIBLE  THINGS. 

these  two  together,  and  you  have  a  man  weeping 
over  the  transient  vanities  of  an  ever-shifting  world, 
and  mixing  with  all  this  softness,  an  elevation  of 
thought  and  of  prospect,  as  he  looks  through  the 
vista  of  a  futurity,  losing  itself  in  the  mighty  range 
of  thousands  and  thousands  of  centuries.  And  at 
this  point  the  delusion  comes  in,  that  here  is  a  man 
who  is  all  that  religion  would  have  him  to  be — a 
man  weaned  fi'om  the  littleness  of  the  paltry  scene 
that  is  around  him — soaring  high  above  all  the 
evanescence  of  things  present,  and  things  sensible 
— and  transferrilig  every  affection  of  his  soul  to  the 
durabilities  of  a  pure  and  immortal  region.  It 
were  better  if  this  high  state  of  occasional  impression 
on  the  matters  of  time  and  of  eternity,  had  only  the 
effect  of  imposing  the  falsehood  on  others,  that  the 
man  who  was  so  touched  and  so  transported,  had 
on  that  single  account  the  temper  of  a  candidate 
for  heaven.  But  the  falsehood  takes  possession 
of  his  own  heart.  The  man  is  pleased  with  his 
emotions  and  his  tears — and  the  interpretation  he 
puts  upon  them  is,  that  they  come  out  of  the  ful- 
ness of  a  heart  all  alive  to  religion,  and  sensibly 
affected  with  its  charms,  and  its  seriousness,  and 
its  principle.  Now,  we  venture  to  say,  that  there 
may  be  much  of  all  this  kind  of  enthusiasm,  with  the 
very  man  who  is  not  moving  a  single  step  towards 
that  blessed  eternity,  over  which  his  fancy  delights 
to  expatiate.  The  moving  representation  of  the 
preacher  may  be  listened  to  as  a  pleasant  song — 
and  the  entertained  hearer  return  to  all  the  invet- 
erate habits  of  one  of  the  children  of  this  world. 


TRANSITORIXESS  OF  VISIBLE  THINGS.       277 

It  Is  this,  which  makes  us  fear  that  a  power  of 
deceitfuhiess  may  accompany  the  eloquence  of  the 
pulpit — that  the  wisdom  of  words  may  defeat  the 
great  object  of  a  practical  work  upon  the  conscience 
— that  a  something  short  of  a  real  business  change 
in  the  heart,  and  in  the  principles  of  acting,  may 
satisfy  the  man  who  listens,  and  admires,  and  resigns 
his  every  feeling  to  the  magic  of  an  impressive 
description — that,  strangely  compounded  beings  as 
we  are,  broken  loose  from  God,  and  proving  it  by 
the  habitual  voidness  of  our  hearts  to  a  sense  of 
His  authority,  and  of  His  will ;  that  blind  to  the 
realities  of  another  world,  and  slaves  to  the  wretched 
infatuation  which  makes  us  cleave  with  the  full  bent 
of  our  affections  to  the  one  by  which  we  are  visibly 
and  immediately  surrounded;  that  utterly  unable, 
by  nature,  to  live  above  the  present  scene,  while 
its  cares,  and  its  interests  are  plying  us  every  hour 
with  their  urgency ;  that  the  prey  of  evil  passions 
which  darken  and  distract  the  inner  man,  and  throw 
us  at  a  wider  distance  from  the  holy  Being  who  for- 
bids the  indulgence  of  them ;  and  yet  with  all  this 
weight  of  corruption  about  us,  having  minds  that 
can  seize  the  vastness  of  some  great  conception, 
and  can  therefore  rejoice  in  the  expanding  loftiness 
of  its  own  thoughts,  as  it  dwells  on  the  wonders  of 
eternity  ;  and  ha%-ing  hearts  that  can  move  to  the 
impulse  of  a  tender  consideration,  and  can,  therefore, 
sadden  into  melancholy  at  the  dark  picture  of  death, 
and  its  unrelenting  cruelties ;  and  having  fancies 
that  can  brighten  to  the  cheerful  colouring  of  some 
pleasing  and  hopeful  representation,  and  can,  there- 


278       TRANSITORINESS  OF  VISIBLE  THINGS. 

fore,  be  soothed  and  animated  when  some  sketch 
is  laid  before  it  of  a  pious  family  emerging  from  a 
common  sepulchre,  and  on  the  morning  of  their 
joyful  resurrection,  forgetting  all  the  sorrows  and 
separations  of  the  dark  world  that  has  now  rolled 
over  them — O  my  brethren,  we  fear  it,  we  greatly 
fear  it,  that  while  busied  with  topics  such  as  these, 
many  a  hearer  may  weep,  or  be  elevated,  or  take 
pleasure  in  the  touching  imagery  that  is  made  to 
play  around  him,  while  the  dust  of  this  perishable 
earth  is  all  that  his  soul  cleaves  to — and  its  cheating 
vanities  are  all  that  his  heart  cares  for,  or  his  foot- 
steps follow  after. 

The  thing  is  not  merely  possible — but  we  see  in 
it  a  stamp  of  likelihood  to  all  that  experience  tells 
us  of  the  nature  or  the  habitudes  of  man.  Is  there 
no  such  thing  as  his  having  a  taste  for  the  beauties 
of  landscape,  and,  at  the  same  time,  turning  with 
disgust  from  what  he  calls  the  methodism  of  peculiar 
Christianity?  Might  not  he  be  an  admirer  of 
poetry,  and,  at  the  same  time,  nauseate  with  his 
whole  heart,  the  doctrine  and  the  language  of  the 
New  Testament?  Might  not  he  have  a  fancy  that 
can  be  regaled  by  some  fair  and  well-formed  vision 
of  immortality — and,  at  the  same  time,  have  no 
practical  hardihood  whatever  for  the  exercise  of 
labouring  in  the  prescribed  way  after  the  meat  that 
endureth  ?  Surely,  surely,  this  is  all  very  possible 
— and  it  is  just  as  possible,  and  many  we  believe 
to  be  the  instances  we  have  of  it  in  real  life,  when 
an  eloquent  description  of  heaven  is  exquisitely  felt, 
and  wakens  in  the  bosom  the  raptures  of  the  sin- 


TRANSITORINESS  OF  VISIBLE  THINGS.       279 

cerest  admiration,  among  those  who  feel  an  utter 
repugnancy  to  the  heaven  of  the  Bible — and  are 
not  moving  a  single  inch  through  the  narrowness 
of  the  path  which  leads  to  it. 


280     NEW  HEAVENS  AND  NEW  EARTH. 


DISCOURSE  IV. 

ON  THE  NEW  HEAVENS  AND  THE  NEW 
EARTH. 


**  Nevertheless  we,  according  to  his  promise,  look  for  new  heavens 
and  a  new  earth,  wherein  dwelleth  righteousness."— 2  Peter 
iii,  13. 

There  is  a  limit  to  the  revelations  of  the  Bible 
about  futurity,  and  it  were  a  mental  or  spiritual 
trespass  to  go  beyond  it.  The  reserve  which  it 
maintains  in  its  informations,  we  also  ought  to  main- 
tain in  our  inquiries — satisfied  to  know  little  on  every 
subject,  where  it  has  communicated  little,  and  feeling 
our  way  into  regions  which  are  at  present  unseen, 
no  further  than  the  light  of  Scripture  will  carry  us. 
But  while  we  attempt  not  to  be  "  wise  above 
that  which  is  written,"  we  should  attempt,  and  that 
most  studiously,  to  be  wise  up  to  that  which  is 
written.  The  disclosures  are  very  few  and  very 
partial,  which  are  given  to  us  of  that  bright  and 
beautiful  economy,  which  is  to  survive  the  ruins  of 
our  present  one.  But,  still  there  are  such  disclos- 
ures— and  on  the  principle  of  the  things  that  are 
revealed  belonging  unto  us,  we  have  a  right  to  walk 
up  and  down,  for  the  purpose  of  observation,  over 
the  whole  actual  extent  of  them.  What  is  made 
known  of  the  details  of  immortality,  is  but  small  in 
the  amount,  nor  are  we  furnished  with  the  materials 


NEW  HEAVENS  AND  NEW  EARTH.  281 

of  any  thing  like  a  graphical  or  picturesque  exhi- 
bition of  its  abodes  of  blessedness.  But  still 
somewhat  is  made  known,  and  which,  too,  may  be 
addressed  to  a  higher  principle  than  curiosity, 
being  like  every  other  Scripture,  "  profitable  both 
for  doctrine  and  for  instruction  in  righteousness." 

In  the  text  before  us,  there  are  two  leading  points 
of  information,  which  we  should  like  successively 
to  remark  upon.  The  first  is,  that  in  the  new 
economy  which  is  to  be  reared  for  the  accommoda- 
tion of  the  blessed,  there  will  be  materialism,  not 
merely  new  heavens,  but  also  a  new  earth.  The 
second  is,  that  as  distinguished  from  the  present, 
which  is  an  abode  of  rebellion,  it  will  be  an  abode 
of  righteousness. 

I.  We  know  historically  that  earth,  that  a  solid 
material  earth,  may  form  the  dwelling  of  sinless 
creatures,  in  full  converse  and  friendship  with  the 
Being  who  made  them— that,  instead  of  a  place  of 
exile  for  outcasts,  it  may  have  a  broad  avenue 
of  communication  with  the  spiritual  world,  for  the 
descent  of  ethereal  beings  from  on  high— that,  like 
the  member  of  an  extended  family,  it  may  share  in 
the  regard  and  attention  of  the  other  members,  and 
along  with  them  be  gladdened  by  the  presence  of 
Him  who  is  the  Father  of  them  all.  To  inquire  how 
this  can  be,  were  to  attempt  a  wisdom  beyond  Scrip- 
ture :  but  to  assert  that  this  has  been,  and  therefore 
may  be,  is  to  keep  most  strictly  and  modestly  with- 
in the  limits  of  the  record.  For,  we  there  read,  that 
God  framed  an  apparatus  of  materialism,  which, 
on  His  own  surveying,  He  pronounced  to  be  all 
very  good,  and  the  leading  features  of  which  may 


282      NEW  HEAVENS  AND  NEW  EARTH. 

still  be  recognized  among  the  things  and  the  sub- 
stances that  are  around  us — and  that  He  created 
man  with  the  bodily  organs  and  senses  which  we  now 
wear — and  placed  Him  under  the  very  canopy  that 
is  over  our  heads — and  spread  around  Him  a  scen- 
ery, perhaps  lovelier  in  its  tints,  and  more  smiling 
and  serene  in  the  whole  aspect  of  it,  but  certainly 
made  up,  in  the  main,  of  the  same  objects  that  still 
compose  the  prospect  of  our  visible  contemplations 
— and  there,  working  with  his  hands  in  a  garden,  and 
with  trees  on  every  side  of  him,  and  even  with  animals 
sporting  at  his  feet,  was  this  inhabitant  of  earth,  in 
the  midst  of  all  those  earthly  and  familiar  accom- 
paniments, in  full  possession  of  the  best  immunities 
of  a  citizen  of  heaven — sharing  in  the  delight  of 
angels,  and  while  he  gazed  on  the  very  beauties 
which  we  ourselves  gaze  upon,  rejoicing  in  them 
most  as  the  tokens  of  a  present  and  presiding  Deity. 
It  were  venturing  on  the  fegion  of  conjecture  to 
affirm,  whether,  if  Adam  had  not  fallen,  the  earth 
that  we  now  tread  upon,  would  have  been  the  ever- 
lasting abode  of  him  and  his  posterity.  But  certain 
it  is,  that  man,  at  the  first,  had  for  his  place  this 
world,  and,  at  the  same  time,  for  his  privilege, 
an  unclouded  fellowship  with  God,  and,  for  his  pro- 
spect, an  immortality,  which  death  was  neither  to 
intercept  nor  put  an  end  to.  He  was  terrestrial 
in  respect  of  condition,  and  yet  celestial  in  respect 
both  of  character  and  enjoyment.  His  eye  looked 
outwardly  on  a  landscape  of  earth,  while  his  heart 
breathed  upwardly  in  the  love  of  heaven.  And 
though  he  trode  the  solid  platform  of  our  world, 
and  was  compassed  about  with  its  horizon — still 


NEW  HEAVENS  AND  NEW  EAR,TH.  283 

was  he  within  the  circle  of  God's  favoured  creation, 
and  took  His  place  among  the  freemen  and  the 
denizens  of  the  great  spiritual  commonwealth. 

This  may  serve  to  rectify  an  imagination,  of 
which  we  think  that  all  must  be  conscious — as  if 
the  grossness  of  materialism  was  only  for  those  who 
had  degenerated  into  the  grossness  of  sin  ;  and  that, 
when  a  spiritualizing  process  had  purged  away  all 
our  corruption,  then,  by  the  stepping  stones  of  a 
death  and  a  resurrection,  we  should  be  borne  away 
to  some  ethereal  region,  where  sense,  and  bodv, 
and  all  in  the  shape  either  of  audible  sound,  or  of 
tangible  substance,  were  unknown.  And  hence  that 
strangeness  of  impression  which  is  felt  by  you, 
should  the  supposition  be  offered,  that  in  the  place 
of  eternal  blessedness,  there  will  be  ground  to  walk 
upon;  or  scenes  of  luxuriance  to  delight  the 
corporeal  senses ;  or  the  kindly  intercourse  of 
friends  talking  familiarly,  and  by  articulate  converse 
together ;  or,  in  short,  any  thing  that  has  the  least 
resemblance  to  a  local  territory,  filled  with  various 
accommodations,  and  peopled  over  its  whole  extent 
by  creatures  formed  like  ourselves — having  bodies 
such  as  we  now  wear,  and  faculties  of  perception, 
and  thought,  and  mutual  communication,  such  as 
w^e  now  exercise.  The  common  imagination  that  we 
have  of  paradise  on  the  other  side  of  death,  is,  that 
of  a  lofty  aerial  region,  where  the  inmates  float  in 
ether,  or  are  mysteriously  suspended  upon  nothing 
— where  all  the  warm  and  sensible  accompaniments 
which  give  such  an  expression  of  strength,  and 
life,  and  colouring,  to  our  present  habitation,  are 
attenuated  into  a  sort  of  spiritual  element,  that  is 


284  >?EW  HEAVENS  AND  NEW  EARTH. 

meagre,  and  imperceptible,  and  utterly  uninviting 
to  the  eye  of  mortals  here  below — where  every 
vestige  of  materialism  is  done  away,  and  nothing  left 
but  certain  unearthly  scenes  that  have  no  power  of 
allurement,  and  certain  unearthly  ecstasies,  with 
which  it  is  felt  impossible  to  sympathise.  The 
holders  of  this  imagination  forget  all  the  while,  that 
really  there  is  no  essential  connexion  between 
materialism  and  sin — that  the  world  which  we  now 
inhabit,  had  all  the  amplitude  and  solidity  of  its 
present  materialism,  before  sin  entered  into  it — 
that  God  so  far.  on  that  account,  from  looking 
slightly  upon  it,  after  it  had  received  the  last  touch 
of  His  creating  hand,  reviewed  the  earth,  and  the 
waters,  and  the  firmament,  and  all  the  green 
herbage,  with  the  living  creatures,  and  the  man 
w^hom  He  had  raised  in  dominion  over  them,  and 
He  saw  every  thing  that  He  had  made,  and  behold 
it  was  all  very  good.  They  forget  that  on  the 
birth  of  materialism,  when  it  stood  out  in  the 
freshness  of  those  glories  which  the  great  Architect 
of  Nature  had  impressed  upon  it,  that  then  '*the 
morning  stars  sang  together,  and  all  the  sons  of 
God  shouted  for  joy."  They  forget  the  appeals 
that  are  made  everywhere  in  the  Bible  to  this 
material  workmanship — and  how,  from  the  face  of 
these  visible  heavens,  and  the  garniture  of  this  earth 
that  we  tread  upon,  the  greatness  and  the  goodness 
of  God  are  reflected  on  the  view  of  His  worshippers. 
Ko,  my  brethren,  the  object  of  the  administration 
we  sit  under,  is  to  extirpate  sin,  but  it  is  not  to 
sweep  away  materialism.  By  the  convulsions  of 
the  last  day,  it  may  be  shaken,  and  broken  down 


NEW  HEAVENS  AND  NEW  EARTH.  285 

from  its  present  arrangements ;  and  thrown  into 
such  fitful  agitations,  as  that  the  whole  of  its 
existing  framework  shall  fall  to  pieces ;  and  with  a 
heat  so  fervent  as  to  melt  its  most  solid  elements, 
may  it  be  utterly  dissolved.  And  thus  may  the 
earth  again  become  without  form,  and  void,  but 
without  one  particle  of  its  substance  going  into 
annihilation.  Out  of  the  ruins  of  this  second  chaos, 
may  another  heaven  and  another  earth  be  made  to 
arise;  and  a  new  materialism,  with  other  aspects 
of  magnificence  and  beauty,  emerge  from  the  wreck 
of  this  mighty  transformation ;  and  the  world  be 
peopled  as  before,  with  the  varieties  of  material 
loveliness,  and  space  be  again  lighted  up  into  a 
firmament  of  material  splendour. 

Were  our  place  of  everlasting  blessedness  so 
purely  spiritual  as  it  is  commonly  imagined,  then 
the  soul  of  man,  after,  at  death,  having  quitted  his 
body,  would  quit  it  conclusively.  That  mass  of 
materialism  with  which  it  is  associated  upon  earth, 
and  which  many  regard  as  a  load  and  an  incum- 
brance, would  have  leave  to  putrefy  in  the  grave, 
without  being  revisited  by  supernatural  power,  or 
raised  again  out  of  the  inanimate  dust  into  which 
it  had  resolved.  If  the  body  be  indeed  a  clog  and 
a  confinement  to  the  spirit,  instead  of  its  commo- 
dious tenement,  then  would  the  spirit  feel  lightened 
by  the  departure  it  had  made,  and  expatiate  in  all 
the  buoyancy  of  its  emancipated  powers,  over  a 
scene  of  enlargement.  And  this  is,  doubtless,  the 
prevailing  imagination.  But  why  then,  after  hav- 
ing made  its  escape  from  such  a  thraldom,  should 
it  ever  recur  to  the  prison-house  of  its  oldmateriahsm, 


286      NEW  HEAVENS  AND  NEW  EARTH. 

if  a  prison  house  it  really  be.  Why  should  the 
disengaged  spirit  again  be  fastened  to  the  drag  of 
that  grosser  and  heavier  substance,  which  many 
think  has  only  the  effect  of  weighing  down  its 
activity,  and  infusing  into  the  pure  element  of  mind 
an  ingredient  which  serves  to  cloud  and  to  enfeeble 
it.  In  other  words,  what  is  the  use  of  a  day  of 
resurrection,  if  the  union  which  then  takes  place  is 
to  deaden,  or  to  reduce  all  those  energies  that  are 
commonly  ascribed  to  the  living  principle,  in  a  state 
of  separation  ?  But,  as  a  proof  of  some  metaphy- 
sical delusion  upon  this  subject,  the  product, 
perhaps,  of  a  wrong  though  fashionable  philosophy, 
it  would  appear,  that  to  embody  the  spirit  is  not 
the  stepping-stone  to  its  degradation,  but  to  its 
preferment.  The  last  day  will  be  a  day  of  triumph 
to  the  righteous — because  the  day  of  the  re-entrance 
of  the  spirit  to  its  much -loved  abode,  where  its 
faculties,  so  far  from  being  shut  up  into  captivity, 
will  find  their  free  and  kindred  development  in  such 
material  organs  as  are  suited  to  them.  The  fact 
of  the  resurrection  proves,  that,  with  man  at  least, 
the  state  of  a  disembodied  spirit,  is  a  state  of 
unnatural  violence — and  that  the  resurrection  of  his 
body  is  an  essential  step  to  the  highest  perfection 
of  which  he  is  susceptible.  And  it  is  indeed  an 
homage  to  that  materialism,  which  many  are  for 
expunging  from  the  future  state  of  the  universe 
altogether — that  ere  the  immaterial  soul  of  man  has 
reached  the  ultimate  glory  and  blessedness  which  are 
designed  for  it,  it  must  return  and  knock  at  that 
very  grave  where  lie  the  mouldered  remains  of  the 
body  which  it  wore — and  there  inquisition  must  be 


NEW  HEAVENS  AND  NEW  EARTH.  287 

made  for  the  flesh,  and  the  sinews,  and  the  bones, 
which  the  power  of  corruption  has  perhaps  for 
centuries  before,  assimilated  to  the  earth  that  is 
around  them — and  there,  the  minute  atoms  must  be 
re-assembled  into  a  structure  that  bears  upon  it  the 
form  and  the  lineaments,  and  the  general  aspect  of 
a  man — and  the  soul  passes  into  this  material 
framework,  which  is  hereafter  to  be  its  lodging- 
place  for  ever — and  that,  not  as  its  prison,  but  as 
its  pleasant  and  befitting  habitation — not  to  be 
trammelled,  as  some  would  have  it,  in  a  hold  of 
materialism,  but  to  be  therein  equipped  for  the 
services  of  eternity — to  walk  embodied  among  the 
bowers  of  our  second  paradise — to  stand  embodied 
in  the  presence  of  our  God. 

There  will,  it  is  true,  be  a  change  of  personal 
constitution  between  a  good  man  before  his  death, 
and  a  good  man  after  his  resurrection — not,  how- 
ever, that  he  will  be  set  free  from  his  body,  but 
that  he  will  be  set  free  from  the  corrupt  principle 
which  is  in  his  body — not  that  the  materialism  by 
which  he  is  now  surrounded  will  be  done  away,  but 
that  the  taint  of  evil  by  which  this  materialism  is 
now  pervaded,  will  be  done  away.  Could  this  be 
effected  without  dying,  then  death  would  be  no 
longer  an  essential  stepping-stone  to  paradise.  But 
it  would  appear  of  the  moral  virus  which  has  been 
transmitted  downwards  from  Adam,  and  is  now 
spread  abroad  over  the  whole  human  family — it 
would  appear,  that  to  get  rid  of  this,  the  old  fabric 
must  be  taken  down,  and  reared  anew ;  and  that, 
not  of  other  materials,  but  of  its  own  materials, 
on!)  delivered  of  all  impurity,  as  if  by  a  refining 


288      NEW  HEAVENS  AND  NEW  EARTH. 

process  in  the  sepulchre.  It  is  thus,  that  what  is 
'•sown  in  weakness,  is  raised  in  power" — and  for 
this  purpose,  it  is  not  necessary  to  get  quit  of 
materiaUsm,  but  to  get  quit  of  sin,  and  so  to  purge 
materiahsm  of  its  malady.  It  is  thus  that  the  dead 
shall  come  forth  incorruptible — and  those,  we  are 
told,  who  are  ahve  at  this  great  catastrophe,  shall 
suddenly  and  mysteriously  be  changed.  While  we 
are  compassed  about  with  these  vile  bodies,  as  the 
apostle  emphatically  terms  them,  evil  is  present, 
and  it  is  well,  if  through  the  working  of  the  Spirit 
of  grace,  evil  does  not  prevail.  To  keep  this 
besetting  enemy  in  check,  is  the  task  and  the  trial 
of  our  Christianity  on  earth — and  it  is  the  detaching 
of  this  poisonous  ingredient  which  constitutes  that 
for  which  the  behever  is  represented  as  groaning 
earnestly,  even  the  redemption  of  the  body  that  he 
now  v.ears,  and  which  will  then  be  transformed  into 
the  likeness  of  Christ's  glorified  body.  And  this 
will  be  his  heaven,  that  he  will  serve  God  without 
a  struggle,  and  in  a  full  gale  of  spiritual  delight — 
because  with  the  full  concurrence  of  all  the  feelings 
and  all  the  faculties  of  his  regenerated  nature. 
Before  death,  sin  is  only  repressed — after  the 
resurrection,  sin  will  be  exterminated.  Here  he 
has  to  maintain  the  combat,  with  a  tendency  to  evil 
still  lodging  in  his  heart,  and  working  a  perverse 
movement  among  his  inclinations;  but  after  his  war- 
fare in  this  world  is  accomplished,  he  will  no  longer  be 
so  thwarted — and  he  will  set  him  down  in  another 
world,  with  the  repose  and  the  triumph  of  victory 
for  his  everlasting  reward.  The  great  constitutional 
plague  of  his  nature  will  no  longer  trouble  him ;  and 


NEW  HEAVENS  AND  NEW  EARTH.  289 

there  will  be  the  charm  of  a  general  affinity  between 
the  purity  of  his  heart,  and  the  purity  of  the  element 
he  breathes  in.  Still  it  will  not  be  the  purity  of 
spirit  escaped  from  materialism,  but  of  spirit  trans- 
lated into  a  materialism  that  has  been  clarified  of 
evil.  It  will  not  be  the  purity  of  souls  unclothed 
as  at  death,  but  the  purity  of  souls  that  have  again 
been  clothed  upon  at  the  resurrection. 

But  the  highest  homage  that  we  know  of  to 
materialism,  is  that  which  God,  manifest  in  the  flesh, 
has  rendered  to  it.  That  He,  the  Divinity,  should 
have  wrapt  His  unfathomable  essence  in  one  of  its 
coverings,  and  expatiated  amongst  us  in  the  palpable 
form  and  structure  of  a  man  ;  and  that  He  should 
have  chosen  such  a  tenement,  not  as  a  temporary 
abode,  but  should  have  borne  it  with  Him  to  the 
place  which  He  now  occupies,  and  where  He  is  now 
employed  in  preparing  the  mansions  of  His  followers 
— that  He  should  have  entered  within  the  vail,  and 
be  now  seated  at  the  right  hand  of  the  Father,  with 
the  very  body  which  was  marked  by  the  nails  upon 
His  cross,  and  wherewith  He  ate  and  drank  after 
His  resurrection — that  He  who  repelled  the  imagi- 
nation of  His  disciples,  as  if  they  had  seen  a  spirit, 
by  bidding  them  handle  Him  and  see,  and  subjecting 
to  their  familiar  touch,  the  flesh  and  the  bones  that 
encompassed  Him ;  that  He  should  now  be  throned 
in  universal  supremacy,  and  wielding  the  whole 
power  of  heaven  and  earth,  have  every  knee  to  bow 
at  His  name,  and  every  tongue  to  confess,  and  yet 
all  to  the  glory  of  God  the  Father— that  humanity, 
that  substantial  and  embodied  humanity,  should 
thus  be  exalted,  and  a  voice  of  adoration  from  every 

VOL.  VII.  N 


290     NEW  HEAVENS  AND  NEW  EARTH, 

creature,  be  lifted  up  to  the  Lamb  for  ever  and  evey 
— does  this  look  Hke  the  abolition  of  materialism, 
after  the  present  system  of  it  is  destroyed ;  or  does 
it  not  rather  prove,  that  transplanted  into  another 
system,  it  will  be  preferred  to  celestial  honours,  and 
prolonged  in  immortality  throughout  all  ages  ? 

It  has  been  our  careful  endeavour,  in  all  that  we 
have  said,  to  keep  within  the  limits  of  the  record, 
and  to  offer  no  other  remarks  than  those  which  may 
fitly  be  suggested  by  the  circumstance,  that  a  new 
earth  is  to  be  created,  as  well  as  a  new  heavens,  for 
the  future  accommodation  of  the  righteous.  We 
have  no  desire  to  push  the  speculation  beyond  what 
is  written — but  it  were,  at  the  same  time,  well,  that 
in  all  our  representations  of  the  immortal  state, 
there  was  just  the  same  force  of  colouring,  and  the 
same  vivacity  of  scenic  exhibition,  that  there  is  in 
the  New  Testament.  The  imagination  of  a  total 
and  diametric  opposition  between  the  region  of  sense 
and  the  region  of  spirituality,  certainly  tends  to 
abate  the  interest  with  which  we  might  otherwise 
look  to  the  perspective  that  is  on  the  other  side 
of  the  grave;  and  to  deaden  all  those  sympathies  that 
we  else  might  have  with  the  joys  and  the  exercises 
of  the  blest  in  paradise.  To  rectify  this,  it  is  not 
necessary  to  enter  on  the  particularities  of  heaven 
— a  topic  on  which  the  Bible  is  certainly  most 
sparing  and  reserved  in  its  communications.  But 
a  great  step  is  gained,  simply  by  dissolving  the 
alliance  that  exists  in  the  minds  of  many  between 
the  two  ideas  of  sin  and  materialism ;  or  proving, 
that  when  once  sin  is  done  away,  it  consists  with  all 
we  know  of  God's  administration,  that  materialism 


NEW  HEAVENS  AND  NEW  EARTH.  291 

sliall  be  perpetuated  in  the  full  bloom  and  vigour  of 
immortality.     It  altogether  holds  out  a  warmer  and 
more  alluring  picture  of  the  elysium  that  awaits  us, 
when  told,  that  there,  will  be  beauty  to  delight  the 
eye ;  and  music  to  regale  the  ear ;  and  the  comfort 
that  springs  from  all  the  charities  of  intercourse 
between  man  and  man,  holding  converse  as  they  do 
on   earth,    and   gladdening   each   other   with   the 
benignan  t  smiles  that  play  on  the  human  countenance, 
or  the   accents   of  kindness  that  fall  in  soft  and 
soothing  melody  from  the  human  voice.      There  is 
much  of  the  innocent,  and  much  of  the  inspiring, 
and  much  to  affect  and  elevate  the  heart,  in  the 
scenes  and  the  contemplations  of  materialism — and 
we  do  hail  the  information  of  our  text,  that  after  the 
dissolution  of  its  present  frame- work,  it  will  again 
be  varied  and  decked  out  anew  in  all  the  graces  of 
its  unfading  verdure,  and  of  its  unbounded  variety 
—that  in  addition  to  our  direct  and  personal  view 
of  the  Deity,  when  He  comes  down  to  tabernacle 
with  men,  we  shall  also  have  the  reflection  of  Him 
in  a  lovely  mirror  of  His  own  workmanship — and 
that  instead  of  being  transported  to  some  abode  of 
dimness  and  of  mystery,  so  remote  from  human 
experience,  as  to  be  beyond  all  comprehension,  we 
shall  walk  for  ever  in  a  land  replenished  with  those 
sensible  delights,  and  those  sensible  glories,  which, 
we  doubt  not,  will  he  most  profusely  scattered  over 
the   "new  heavens  and  the   new  earth,    wherein 
dwelleth  righteousness.'* 

II.  But  though  a  paradise  of  sense,  it  will  not 
be  a  paradise  of  sensuality.  Though  not  so  unlike 
the  present  world  as  many  apprehend  it,  there  will 


292      NEW  HEAVENS  AND  NEW  EARTH. 

be  one  point  of  total  dissimilarity  betwixt  them.  It 
is  not  the  entire  substitution  of  spirit  for  matter, 
that  will  distinguish  the  future  economy  from  the 
present.  But  it  will  be  the  entire  substitution  of 
righteousness  for  sin.  It  is  this  which  signalizes 
the  Christian  from  the  Mahometan  paradise — not 
that  sense,  and  substance,  and  splendid  imagery, 
and  the  glories  of  a  visible  creation  seen  with  bodily 
eyes,  are  excluded  from  it, — but  that  all  which  is 
vile  in  principle,  or  voluptuous  in  impurity,  will  be 
utterly  excluded  from  it.  There  will  be  a  firm 
earth,  as  we  have  at  present,  and  a  heaven  stretched 
over  it,  as  we  have  at  present;  and  it  is  not  by  the 
absence  of  these,  but  by  the  absence  of  sin,  that  the 
abodes  of  immortality  will  be  characterized.  There 
will  both  be  heavens  and  earth,  it  would  appear,  in 
the  next  great  administration — and  with  this 
specialty  to  mark  it  from  the  present  one,  that  it 
will  be  a  heavens  and  an  earth,  "  wherein  dwelleth 
righteousness." 

Now,  though  the  first  topic  of  information  that 
we  educed  from  the  text,  may  be  regarded  as  not 
very  practical,  yet  the  second  topic  on  which  we 
now  insist,  is  most  eminently  so.  Were  it  the  great 
characteristic  of  that  spirituality  which  is  to  obtain 
in  a  future  heaven,  that  it  was  a  spirituality  of  es- 
sence, then  occupying  and  pervading  the  place  from 
which  materialism  had  been  swept  away,  we  could 
not,  by  any  possible  method,  approximate  the  con- 
dition we  are  in  at  present,  to  the  condition  we  are 
to  hold  everlastingly.  We  cannot  etherealize  the 
matter  that  is  around  us — neither  can  we  attenuate 
our  own  bodies,  nor  bring  down  the  slightest  degree 


KEW  HEAVENS  AND  NEW  EARTH.     293 

of  such  a  heaven  to  the  earth  that  we  now  inhabit. 
But  when  we  are  told  that  materiaHsm  is  to  be  kept 
up,  and  that  the  spirituaUty  of  our  future  state  lies 
not  in  the  kind  of  substance  which  is  to  compose 
its  framework,  but  in  the  character  of  those  who 
people  it — this  puts,  if  not  the  fulness  of  heaven, 
at  least  a  foretaste  of  heaven,  within  our  reach. 
We  have  not  to  strain  at  a  thing  so  impracticable, 
as  that  of  diluting  the  material  economy  which 
is  without  us — we  have  only  to  reform  the  moral 
economy  that  is  within  us.  We  are  now  walking 
on  a  terrestrial  surface,  not  more  compact,  perhaps, 
than  the  one  we  shall  hereafter  walk  upon,  and  are 
now  wearing  terrestrial  bodies,  not  firmer  and  more 
solid,  perhaps,  than  those  we  shall  hereafter  wear. 
It  is  not  by  working  any  change  upon  them,  that 
we  could  realize,  to  any  extent,  our  future  heaven. 
And  this  is  simply  done  by  opening  the  door  of  our 
heart  for  the  influx  of  heaven's  affections — by  bring- 
ing the  whole  man,  as  made  up  of  soul,  and  spirit, 
and  body,  under  the  presiding  authority  of  heaven's 
principles. 

This  will  make  plain  to  you  how  it  is,  that  it 
could  be  said  in  the  New  Testament,  that  the 
"  kingdom  of  heaven  was  at  hand" — and  how,  in 
that  book,  its  place  is  marked  out,  not  by  locally 
pointing  to  any  quarter,  and  saying,  Lo,  here,  or  lo 
there,  but  by  the  simple  affirmation  that  the  king- 
dom of  heaven  is  within  you — and  how,  in  defining 
what  it  was  that  constituted  the  kingdom  of  heaven, 
there  is  an  enumeration,  not  of  such  circumstances 
as  make  up  an  outward  condition,  but  of  such  feel- 
ings and  qualities   as  make  up  a  character,  even 


294      NEW  HEAVENS  AND  NEW  EARTH. 

righteousness,  and  peace,  and  joy  in  the  Holy 
Ghost — and  how  the  ushering  in  of  the  new  dis- 
pensation is  held  equivalent  to  the  introduction  of 
this  kingdom  into  the  world — all  making  it  evident, 
that  if  the  purity  and  the  principles  of  heaven  be- 
gin to  take  effect  upon  our  heart,  v»  hat  is  essentially 
heaven  begins  with  us,  even  in  this  world ;  that  in- 
stead of  ascending  to  some  upper  region,  for  the  pur- 
pose of  entering  it,  it  may  descend  upon  us,  and 
make  an  actual  entrance  of  itself  into  our  bosoms ; 
and  that  so  far,  therefore,  from  that  remote  and 
inaccessible  thing  which  many  do  regard  it,  it  may, 
through  the  influence  of  the  word  which  is  nigh 
unto  you,  and  of  the  Spirit  that  is  given  to  prayer, 
be  lighted  up  in  the  inner  man  of  an  individual 
upon  earth,  whose  person  may  even  here,  exemplify 
its  graces,  and  whose  soul  may  even  here  realize  a 
measure  of  its  enjoyments. 

And  hence  one  great  purpose  of  the  incarnation 
of  our  Saviour.  He  came  down  amongst  us  in  the 
full  perfection  of  heaven's  character,  and  has  made 
us  see,  that  it  is  a  character  which  may  be  em- 
bodied. All  its  virtues  were,  in  his  case,  infused 
into  a  corporeal  frame-work,  and  the  substance  of 
these  lower  regions  was  taken  into  intimate  and 
abiding  association  with  the  spirit  of  the  higher. 
The  ingredient  which  is  heavenly,  admits  of  being 
united  with  the  ingredient  which  is  earthly — so 
that  we,  who,  by  nature,  are  of  the  earth,  and 
earthly,  could  we  catch  of  that  pure  and  celes- 
tial element  which  made  the  man  Christ  Jesus 
to  differ  from  all  other  men,  then  might  we  too  be 
formed  into  that  character,   hv  which  it  is  that  the 


NEW  HEAVENS  AND  NEW  EARTH.      295 

members  of  the  family  above  differ  from  those  of 
the  outcast  family  beneath.  Now,  it  is  expressly 
said  of  Him,  that  He  is  set  before  us  as  an  exam- 
ple ;  and  we  are  required  to  look  to  that  living  ex- 
hibition of  Him,  where  all  the  graces  of  the  upper 
sanctuary  are  beheld  as  in  a  picture ;  and  instead 
of  an  abstract,  we  have  in  His  history  a  familiar 
representation  of  such  w(5rth,  and  piety,  and  ex- 
cellence, as  could  they  only  be  stamped  upon  our 
own  persons,  and  borne  along  with  us  to  the  place 
where  He  now  dwelleth — instead  of  being  shunned 
as  aliens,  we  should  be  welcomed  and  recognized 
as  seemly  companions  for  the  inmates  of  that  place 
of  holiness.  And,  in  truth,  the  great  work  of  Christ's 
disciples  upon  earth,  is  a  constant  and  busy  process 
of  assimilation  to  their  Master  who  is  in  heaven. 
And  we  live  under  a  special  economy,  that  has  been 
set  up  for  the  express  purpose  of  helping  it  forward. 
It  is  for  this,  in  particular,  that  the  Spirit  is  pro- 
vided. We  are  changed  into  the  image  of  the 
Lord,  even  by  the  Spirit  of  the  Lord.  Nursed 
out  of  this  fulness,  we  grow  up  unto  the  stature  of 
perfect  men  in  Christ  Jesus — and  instead  of  heaven 
being  a  remote  and  mysterious  unknown,  heaven 
is  brought  near  to  us  by  the  simple  expedient  of 
inspiring  us  where  we  now  stand,  with  its  love,  and 
its  purity,  and  its  sacredness.  We  learn  from 
Christ,  that  the  heavenly  graces  are  all  of  them  com- 
patible with  the  wear  of  an  earthly  body,  and  the 
circumstances  of  an  earthly  habitation.  It  is  not 
said  in  how  many  of  its  features  the  new  earth  will 
dilier  from,  or  be  like  unto  the  present  one — but 
we,   by  turning  from  our   iniquities  unto   Christ, 


296     NEW  HEAVENS  AND  NEW  EARTH. 

push  forward  the  resemblance  of  the  one  to  the 
other,  m  the  only  feature  that  is  specified,  even  that 
"  therein  dwelleth  righteousness." 

And  had  we  only  the  character  of  heaven,  we 
should  not  be  long  of  feeling  what  that  is  which 
essentially  makes  the  comfort  of  heaven.  "  Thou 
lovest  righteousness,  and  hatest  iniquity  ;  therefore, 
God  thy  God,  hath  anointed  thee  with  the  oil  of 
gladness,  above  thy  fellows."  Let  us  but  love  the 
righteousness  which  He  loves,  and  hate  the  iniquity 
which  He  hateth ;  and  this,  of  itself,  would  so  soften 
and  attune  the  mechanism  of  our  moral  nature,  that 
in  all  the  movements  of  it,  there  should  be  joy.  It  is 
not  sufficiently  adverted  to,  that  the  happiness  of 
heaven  lies  simply  and  essentially  in  the  well-going 
machinery  of  a  well-conditioned  soul — and  that  ac- 
cording to  its  measure,  it  is  the  same  in  kind  with 
the  happiness  of  God,  who  liveth  for  ever  in  bliss 
ineffable,  because  He  is  unchangeable  in  being 
good,  and  upright,  and  holy.  There  may  be  audi- 
ble music  in  heaven,  but  its  chief  delight  will  be  in 
the  music  of  well-poised  affections,  and  of  principles 
in  full  and  consenting  harmony  with  the  laws  of 
eternal  rectitude.  There  may  be  visions  of  loveli- 
ness there ;  but  it  will  be  the  loveliness  of  virtue, 
as  seen  directly  in  God,  and  as  reflected  back 
again  in  family  likeness  from  all  His  children — it 
will  be  this  that  shall  give  its  purest  and  sweetest 
transports  to  the  soul.  In  a  word,  the  main  re- 
ward of  paradise,  is  spiritual  joy — and  that,  spring- 
ing at  once  from  the  love  and  the  possession  of 
spiritual  excellence.  It  is  such  a  joy  as  sin  extin- 
guishes on  the  moment  of  its  entering  the  soul ;  and 


NEW  HEAVENS  AND  NEW  EARTH.  297 

such  a  joy  as  is  again  restored  to  the  soul,  and  that 
immediately  on  its  being  restored  to  righteousness. 
It  is  thus  that  heaven  may  be  established  upon 
earth,  and  the  petition  of  our  Lord's  prayer  be 
fulfilled,  "  Thy  kingdom   come."      This    petition 
receives  its  best  explanation  from  the  one  which 
follows :  "  Thy  will  be  done  on  earth  as  it  is  done 
in  heaven."      It  just  requires  a  similarity  of  habit 
and  character  in  the  two  places,  to  make  out  a 
similarity  of  enjoyment.     Let  us  attend,  then,  to 
the  way  in  which  the  services  of  the  upper  sanctuary 
are  rendered— not  in  the  spirit  of  legality,  for  this 
gendereth  to  bondage ;  but  in  the  spirit  of  love, 
which  gendereth  to  the  beatitude  of  the  affections 
rejoicing  in  their  best  and  most  favourite  indulgence. 
They  do  not  work  there,  for  the  purpose  of  making 
out  the  conditions  of  a  bargain.      They  do  not  act 
agreeably  to  the  pleasure  of  God,  in  order  to  obtain 
the   gratification  of  any  distinct  will   or   distinct 
pleasure  of  their  own,  in  return  for  it.      Their  will 
is,  in  fact,  identical  with  the  will  of  God.      There 
is  a  perfect  unison  of  taste  and  of  inclination,  be- 
tween the  creature  and  the  Creator.     They  are  in 
their  element,  when  they  are  feeling  righteously, 
and  doing  righteously.     Obedience  is  not  drudgery, 
but  delight  to  them ;  and  as  much  as  there  is  of  the 
congenial  between  animal  nature,  and  the  food  that 
is  suitable  to  it,  so  much  is  there  of  the  congenial 
between  the  moral  nature  of  heaven,  and  its  sacred 
employments  and  services.     Let  the  will  of  God, 
then,  be  done  here,  as  it  is  done  there,  and  not  only 
will  character  and  conduct  be  the  same  here  as 
there,  but  they  will  also  resemble  each  other  in  the 
»2 


298     NEW  HEAVENS  AND  NEW  EARTIf. 

Style,  though  not  in  the  degree  of  their  blessedness- 
The  happiness  of  heaven  will  be  exemplified  upon 
earth,  along  with  the  virtue  of  heaven — for,  in  truth, 
the  main  ingredient  of  that  happiness  is  not  given 
them  in  payment  for  work ;  but  it  lies  in  the  love 
they  bear  to  the  work  itself.  A  man  is  never 
happier  than  when  employed  in  that  which  he  likes 
best.  This  is  all  a  question  of  taste  :  but  should 
such  a  taste  be  given  as  to  make  it  a  man's  meat 
and  drink  to  do  the  will  of  his  Father,  then  is  he 
in  perfect  readiness  for  being  carried  upwards  to 
heaven,  and  placed  beside  the  pure  river  of  water 
of  life,  that  proceedeth  out  of  the  throne  of  God 
and  of  the  Lamb.  This  is  the  way  in  which  you 
may  make  a  heaven  upon  earth,  not  by  heaping 
your  reluctant  ofi'ers  at  the  shrine  of  legahty, 
but  by  serving  God  because  you  love  him;  and 
doing  his  will,  because  you  delight  to  do  him  hon- 
our. 

And  here  we  may  remark,  that  the  only  possible 
conveyance  for  this  new  principle  into  the  heart, 
is  the  Gospel  of  Jesus  Christ, — that  in  no  other 
way  than  through  the  acceptance  of  its  free  pardon, 
sealed  by  the  blood  of  an  atonement,  which  exalts 
the  Lawgiver,  can  the  soul  of  man  be  both  eman- 
cipated from  the  fear  of  terror,  and  solemnized  into 
the  fear  of  humble  and  holy  reverence — that  it  is 
only  in  conjunction  with  the  faith  that  justifies,  that 
the  love  of  gratitude,  and  the  love  of  moral  esteem, 
are  made  to  arise  in  the  bosom  of  regenerated  man ; 
and,  therefore,  to  bring  down  the  virtues  of  heaven, 
as  well  as  the  peace  of  heaven,  into  this  lower  v»orld, 
we  know  not  v.hat  else  can  be  done,  than  to  urge 


NEW  HEAVENS  AND  NEW  EARTH.  299 

upon  you  the  great  propitiation  of  the  New  Testa- 
ment— nor  are  we  aware  of  any  expedient  by  which 
all  the  cold  and  freezing  sensations  of  legality  can 
be  done  away,  but  by  your  thankful  and  uncondi- 
tional acceptance  of  Jesus  Christ,  and  him  cruci- 
fied. 


300    NATURE  OF  THE  KINGDOM  OF  GOD 

DISCOURSE  V. 

THE  NATURE  OF  THE  KINGDOM  OF  GOD. 


•*  For  the  kingdom  of  God  is  not  in  word,  but  in  power."— 
1  Corinthian's  iv.  20. 

There  is  a  most  important  lesson  to  be  derived 
from  the  variety  of  senses  in  which  the  phrases 
"  kingdom  of  God,"  and  "  kingdom  of  heaven," 
are  evidently  made  use  of  in  the  New  Testament. 
If  it,  at  one  time,  carry  our  thoughts  to  that  place 
where  God  sits  in  visible  glory,  and  where,  sur- 
rounded by  the  family  of  the  blessed,  he  presides 
in  full  and  spiritual  authority — it,  at  another  time, 
turns  our  thoughts  inwardly  upon  ourselves,  and 
instead  of  leading  us  to  say,  Lo,  here,  or  lo, 
there,  as  if  to  some  local  habitation  at  a  distance, 
it  leads  us,  by  the  declaration,  that  the  "  kingdom 
of  God  is  within  us,"  to  look  for  it  into  our  own 
breast,  and  to  examine  whether  heavenly  affections 
have  been  substituted  there  in  the  place  of  earthly 
ones.  Such  is  the  tendency  of  our  imagination  upon 
this  subject,  that  the  kingdom  of  heaven  is  never 
mentioned,  without  our  minds  being  impelled  there- 
by to  take  an  upward  direction — to  go  aloft  to  that 
place  of  spaciousness,  and  of  splendour,  and  of 
psalmody,  which  forms  the  residence  of  angels  ;  and 
where  the  praises  both  of  redeemed  and  unfallen 
creatures,  rise  in  one  anthem  of  gratulation  to  the 


NATURE  OF  THE  KINGDOM  OF  GOD.    301 

Father,  Mho  rejoices  over  them  all.  Now,  it  is 
evident,  that  in  dwelling  upon  such  an  elysium  as 
this,  the  mind  can  picture  to  itself  a  thousand  deli- 
cious accompaniments,  which,  apart  from  moral 
and  spiritual  character  altogether,  are  fitted  to  regale 
animal,  and  sensitive,  and  unrenewed  man.  There 
may  be  sights  of  beauty  and  brilliancy  for  the  eye. 
There  may  be  sounds  of  sweetest  melody  for  the  ear. 
There  may  be  innumerable  sensations  of  delight, 
from  the  adaptation  which  obtains  between  the 
materialism  of  surrounding  heaven,  and  the  mate- 
rialism of  our  own  transformed  and  glorified  bodies. 
There  may  even  be  poured  upon  us,  in  richest 
abundance,  a  higher  and  a  nobler  class  of  enjoyments 
— and  separate  still  from  the  possession  of  holiness, 
of  that  peculiar  quality,  by  the  accession  of  which 
a  sinner  is  turned  into  a  saint,  and  the  man  who, 
before,  had  an  entire  aspect  of  secularity  and  of 
the  world,  looks  as  if  he  had  been  cast  over  again 
in  another  mould,  and  come  out  breathing  godly 
desires,  and  aspiring,  with  a  newly  created  fervour, 
after  godly  enjoyments.  And  so,  without  any  such 
conversion  as  this,  heaven  may  still  be  conceived 
to  minister  a  set  of  very  refined  and  intellectual 
gratifications.  One  may  figure  it  so  formed,  as  to 
adapt  itself  to  the  senses  of  man,  though  he  should 
possess  not  one  single  virtue  of  the  temple,  or  of 
the  sanctuary — and  one  may  figure  it  to  be  so 
formed,  as,  though  alike  destitute  of  these  virtues, 
to  adapt  itself  even  to  the  Spirit  of  man,  and  to 
many  of  the  loftier  principles  and  capacities  of  his 
nature.  His  taste  may  find  an  ever-recurring 
delight  in  the  panorama  of  its  sensible  glories  ;  and 


302    NATURE  OF  THE  KINGDOM  OF  GOD. 

his  fancy  wander  untired  among  all  the  realities  and 
all  the  possibilities  of  created  excellence ;  and  his 
understanding  be  feasted  to  ecstasy  among  those 
endless  varieties  of  truth,  which  are  ever  pouring 
in  a  rich  flood  of  discovery,  upon  his  mind;  and 
even  his  heart  be  kept  in  a  glow  of  warm  and  kindly 
affection  among  the  cordialities  of  that  benevolence, 
by  which  he  is  surrounded.  All  this  is  possible  to 
be  conceived  of  heaven — and  when  we  add  its  secure 
and  everlasting  exemption  from  the  agonies  of  hell, 
let  us  not  wonder,  that  such  a  heaven  should  be 
vehemently  desired  by  those  who  have  not  advanced 
by  the  very  humblest  degi'ee  of  spiritual  preparation, 
for  the  real  heaven  of  the  New  Testament — who 
have  not  the  least  congeniality  of  feeling  with  that 
which  forms  its  essential  and  characteristic  blessed- 
ness— who  cannot  sustain  on  earth  for  a  very  short 
interval  of  retirement,  the  labour  and  the  weariness 
of  communion  with  God — who,  though  they  could 
relish  to  the  uttermost,  all  the  sensible  and  all  the 
intellectual  joys  of  heaven,  yet  hold  no  taste  of 
sympathy  whatever,  with  its  hallelujahs,  and  its 
songs  of  raptured  adoration — and  who,  therefore, 
if  transported  at  this  moment,  or  if  transported 
after  death,  with  the  frame  and  character  of  soul 
that  they  have  at  this  moment,  to  the  New  Jerusa- 
lem, and  the  city  of  the  living  God,  would  positively 
find  themselves  aliens,  and  out  of  their  kindred  and 
rejoicing  element,  however  much  they  may  sigh 
after  a  paradise  of  pleasure,  or  a  paradise  of  poetry. 
It  may  go  to  dissipate  this  sentimental  illusion, 
It  we  ponder  well  tlie  meaning  which  is  often 
assigned  to  the  kingdom  of  heaven  in  the  Bible — if 


NATURE  OF  THE  KINGDOM  OF  GOD.     303 

we  reflect,  that  it  is  often  made  to  attach  personally 
to  a  human  creature  upon  earth — as  well  as  to  be 
situated  locally  in  some  distant  and  mysterious 
region  away  from  us — that  to  be  the  subjects  of 
such  a  kingdom,  it  is  not  indispensable  that  our 
residence  be  within  the  limits  of  an  assigned 
territory,  any  more,  in  fact,  than  that  the  subject  of 
an  earthly  sovereign  should  not  remain  so,  though 
travelling,  for  a  time,  beyond  the  confines  of  his 
master's  jurisdiction.  He  may,  though  away  from 
his  country  in  person,  carry  about  with  him  in  mind 
a  full  principle  of  allegiance  to  his  country's 
sovereign — and  may  both,  in  respect  of  legal  duty, 
and  of  his  own  most  willing  and  affectionate  com- 
pliance with  it,  remain  associated  with  him  both 
in  heart  and  in  pohtical  relationship.  He  is  still  a 
member  of  that  kingdom,  in  the  domains  of  which 
he  was  born — and  in  the  very  same  way,  may  a  man 
be  travelling  the  journey  of  life  in  this  world,  and 
be  all  the  while  a  member  of  the  kingdom  of 
heaven.  The  Being  who  reigns  in  supreme  authority 
there,  may,  even  in  this  land  of  exile  and  alienation, 
have  some  one  devoted  subject,  who  renders  to  the 
same  authority  the  deference  of  his  heart,  and  the 
subordination  of  his  whole  practice.  The  will  of 
God  may  possess  such  a  moral  ascendancy  over  his 
will,  as  that  when  the  one  commands,  the  other 
promptly  and  cheerfully  obeys.  The  character  of 
God  may  stand  revealed  in  such  charms  of  perfec- 
tion and  gracefulness  to  the  eye  of  his  mind,  that 
by  ever  looking  to  Him,  he  both  loves  and  is  made 
like  unto  Hun.  A  sense  of  God  may  pervade  his 
every  hour,  and  every  employment,  even  as  it  is 


304    NATURE  OF  THE  KINGDOM  OF  GOD. 

the  hand  of  God  which  preserves  him  continuaiiy, 
and  through  the  actual  power^of  God,  that  he  lives 
and  moves,  as  well  as  has  his  being.  Such  a  man, 
if  such  a  man  there  be  on  the  face  of  our  world, 
has  the  kingdom  of  God  set  up  in  his  heart.  He 
is  already  one  of  the  children  of  the  kingdom.  He 
is  not  locally  in  heaven,  and  yet  his  heaven  is  begun. 
He  has  in  his  eye  the  glories  of  heaven ;  though,  as 
yet,  he  sees  them  through  a  glass  darkly.  He  feels 
in  his  bosom  the  principles  of  heaven  ;  though  still 
at  war  with  the  propensities  of  nature,  they  do  not 
yet  reign  in  all  the  freeness  of  an  undisputed  ascen- 
dancy. He  carries  in  his  heart  the  peace,  and  the 
joy,  and  the  love,  and  the  elevation  of  heaven ; 
though,  under  the  incumbrance  of  a  vile  body,  the 
spiritual  repast  which  is  thus  provided,  is  not  with- 
out its  mixtures,  and  without  its  mitigation.  In  a 
word,  the  essential  elements  of  heaven's  reward, 
and  of  heaven's  felicity,  are  all  in  his  possession. 
He  tastes  the  happiness  of  heaven  in  kind,  though 
not  in  its  full  and  finished  degree.  When  he  gets 
to  heaven  above,  he  will  not  meet  there  with  a 
happiness  differing  in  character  from  that  which  he 
now  feels ;  but  only  higher  in  gradation.  There 
may  be  crowns  of  material  splendour.  There  may 
be  trees  of  unfading  loveliness.  There  may  be 
pavements  of  emerald — and  canopies  of  brightest 
radiance — and  gardens  of  deep  and  tranquil  security 
— and  palaces  of  proud  and  stately  decoration — 
and  a  city  of  lofty  pinnacles,  through  which  there 
unceasing  flows  a  river  of  gladness,  and  where 
jubilee  is  ever  rung  with  the  concord  of  seraphic 
voices.      But   these   are   oniv   the    accessaries   of 


NATURE   OF  THE  KINGDOM  OF  GOD.  305 

heaven.  They  form  not  the  materials  of  its 
substantial  blessedness.  Of  this  the  man  who  toils 
in  humble  drudgery,  an  utter  stranger  to  the  delights 
of  sensible  pleasure,  or  the  fascinations  of  sensible 
glory,  has  got  already  a  foretaste  in  his  heart.  It 
consists  not  in  the  enjoyment  of  created  good,  nor 
in  the  survey  of  created  magnificence.  It  is  drawn 
in  a  direct  stream,  through  the  channels  of  love 
and  of  contemplation,  from  the  fulness  of  the  Crea- 
tor. It  emanates  from  the  countenance  of  God, 
manifesting  the  .spiritual  glories  of  His  holy  and 
perfect  character,  on  those  whose  characters  are 
kindred  to  His  own.  And  if  on  earth  there  is  no 
tendency  towards  such  a  character — no  process  of 
restoration  to  the  lost  image  of  the  Godhead — no 
delight  in  prayer — no  relish  for  the  sweets  of  inter- 
course with  our  Father,  now  unseen,  but  then  to  be 
revealed  to  the  view  of  His  immediate  worshippers 
— then,  let  our  imaginations  kindle  as  they  may, 
with  the  beatitudes  of  our  fictitious  heaven,  the  true 
heaven  of  the  Bible  is  what  we  shall  never  reach, 
because  it  is  a  heaven  that  we  are  not  fitted  to 
enjoy.' 

But  such  a  view  of  the  matter  seems  not  merely 
to  dissipate  a  sentimental  illusion  which  obtains 
upon  this  subject.  It  also  serves  to  dissipate  a 
theological  illusion.  Ere  w^e  can  enter  heaven, 
there  must  be  granted  to  us  a  legal  capacity  of 
admission — and  Christ  by  His  atoning  death,  and 
perfect  righteousness,  has  purchased  this  capacity 
for  those  who  believe — and  they,  by  the  very  act  of 
believing,  are  held  to  be  in  possession  of  it,  just  as 
a  man  by  stretching  out  his  hand  to  a  deed  or  a 


306    NATURE  OF  THE  KINGDOM  OF  GOD. 

passport,  becomes  vested  with  all  the  privileges 
which  are  thereby  conveyed  to  the  holde-r.  Now, 
in  the  zeal  of  controversialists,  (and  it  is  a  point 
most  assuredly  about  which  they  cannot  be  too 
zealous) — in  their  zeal  to  clear  up  and  to  demon- 
strate the  ground  on  which  the  sinner's  legal 
capacity  must  rest — there  has,  with  many,  been  a 
sad  overlooking  of  what  is  no  less  indispensable, 
even  his  personal  capacity.  And  yet  even  on  the 
lowest  and  grossest  conceptions  of  what  that  is 
which  constitutes  the  felicity  of  heaven,  it  would  be 
no  heaven,  and  no  place  of  enjoyment  at  all, 
without  a  personal  adaptation  on  the  part  of  its 
occupiers,  to  the  kind  of  happiness  which  is  current 
there.  If  that  happiness  consisted  entirely  in  sights 
of  magnificence,  of  what  use  would  it  be  to  confer 
a  title-deed  of  entry  on  a  man  who  was  blind  ?  To 
make  it  heaven  to  him,  his  eyes  must  be  opened. 
Or,  if  that  happiness  consisted  in  sounds  of  melody, 
of  what  use  would  a  passport  be  to  the  man  who  was 
deaf  ?  To  make  out  a  heaven  for  him,  a  change 
must  be  made  on  the  person  which  he  wears,  as  well 
as  in  the  place  which  he  occupies — and  his  ears 
must  be  unstopped.  Or,  if  that  happiness  consisted 
in  fresh  and  perpetual  accessions  of  new  and 
delightful  truth  to  the  understanding,  what  would 
rights  and  legal  privileges  avail  to  him  who  was 
sunk  in  helpless  idiotism  ?  To  provide  him  with 
a  heaven,  it  is  not  enough  that  he  be  transported 
to  a  place  among  the  mansions  of  the  celestial :  he 
must  be  provided  with  anew  faculty — and,  asbefore, 
a  change  behoved  to  be  made  upon  the  senses ;  so 
now,  ere  heaven  can  be  heaven  to  its  occupier,  a 


yATURE  OF  THE  KINGDOM  OF  GOD.  307 

change  must  be  made  upon  his  mmd.  And,  in  like 
manner,  my  brethren,  if  that  happiness  shall  consist 
in  the  love  of  God  for  His  goodness,  and  in  the  love 
of  God  for  the  moral  and  spiritual  ex.cellence  which 
belongs  to  Him — if  it  shall  consist  in  the  play  and 
exercise  of  affections  directed  to  such  objects  as  are 
alone  worthy  of  their  most  exalted  regard — if  it  shall 
consist  in  the  m.ovements  of  a  heart  now  attracted 
in  reverence  and  admiration  towards  all  that  is 
noble,  and  righteous,  and  holy — it  is  not  enough  to 
constitute  a  heaven  for  the  sinner,  that  God  is  there 
in  visible  manifestation,  or  that  heaven  is  lighted  up 
to  him  in  a  blaze  of  spiritual  glory.  His  heart 
must  be  made  a  fit  recipient  for  the  impression  of 
that  glory.  Of  what  possible  enjoyment  to  him  is 
heaven,  as  his  purchased  inheritance,  if  heaven  be 
not  also  his  precious  and  his  much-loved  home? 
To  create  enjoyment  for  a  man,  there  must  be  a 
suitableness  between  the  taste  that  is  in  him,  and 
the  objects  that  are  around  him.  To  make  a 
natural  man  happy  upon  earth,  we  may  let  his  taste 
alone,  and  surround  him  with  favourable  circum- 
stances— with  smiling  abundance,  and  merry 
companionship,  and  bright  anticipations  of  fortune 
or  of  fame,  and  the  salutations  of  public  respect, 
and  the  gaieties  of  fashionable  amusement,  and 
the  countless  other  pleasures  of  a  world,  which 
yields  so  much  to  delight  and  to  diversify  the  short- 
lived period  of  its  fleeting  generations.  To  make 
the  same  man  happy  in  heaven,  it  would  suffice 
simply  to  transmit  him  there  with  the  same  taste, 
and  to  surround  him  with  the  same  circumstances. 
But  God  has  not  so  ordered  heaven.      He  will  not 


308    NATURE  OF  THE  KINGDOM  OF  GOD. 

suit  the  circumstance  of  heaven  to  the  character  of 
man — and  therefore  to  make  it,  that  man  can  be 
happy  there,  nothing  remains  but  to  suit  the 
character  of  man  to  the  circumstances  of  heaven — 
and,  therefore  it  is,  that  to  bring  about  heaven  to  a 
sinner,  it  is  not  enough  that  there  be  the  preparation 
of  a  place  for  him,  there  must  be  a  preparation  of 
him  for  the  place — it  is  not  enough  that  he  be  meet 
in  law,  he  nmst  be  meet  in  person^ — it  is  not  enough 
that  there  be  a  change  in  his  forensic  relation 
towards  God,  there  must  be  a  change  in  the  actual 
disposition  of  his  heart  towards  Ilim ;  and  unless 
delivered  from  his  earth-born  propensities — unless 
a  clean  heart  be  created,  and  a  right  spirit  be 
renewed — unless  transformed  into  a  holy  and  a 
godlike  character,  it  is  quite  in  vain  to  have  put  a 
deed  of  entry  into  his  hands — heaven  will  have  no 
charm  for  him — all  its  notes  of  rapture  will  fall  with 
tasteless  insipidity  upon  his  ear — and  justification 
itself  will  cease  to  be  a  privilege. 

Let  us  cease  to  v.onder,  then,  at  the  frequent 
application,  in  Scripture,  of  this  phrase  to  a  state 
of  personal  feeling  and  character  upon  earth — and 
rather  let  us  press  upon  our  remembrance  the  im- 
portant lessons  which  are  to  be  gathered  from  such 
an  application.  In  that  passage  where  it  is  said, 
that  the  "kingdom  of  God  is  not  meat  and  drink, 
but  righteousness,  and  peace,  and  joy  in  the  Holy 
Ghost,"  there  can  be  no  doubt  that  the  reference 
is  altogether  personal,  for  the  apostle  is  here  con- 
trasting the  man  who,  in  these  things,  serveth 
Christ,  wdth  the  man  who  eateth  unto  the  Lord,  or 
who  eateth  not  unto  the  Lord.      And  in  the  pas- 


NATURE  OF  THE  KINGDOM  OF  GOD.         309 

sage  now  before  us,  there  can  be  as  little  doubt,  that 
the  reference  is  to  the  kingdom  of  God,  as  fixed 
and  substantiated  upon  the  character  of  the  human 
soul.  He  was  just  before  alluding  to  those  who 
could  talk  of  the  things  of  Christ,  while  it  remained 
questionable  whether  there  was  any  change  or  any 
effect  that  could  at  all  attest  the  power  of  these 
things  upon  their  person  and  character.  This  is 
the  point  which  he  proposed  to  ascertain  on  his 
next  visit  to  them.  "  I  will  come  to  you  shortly, 
if  the  Lord  will,  and  will  know  not  the  speech  of 
them  which  are  puffed  up,  but  the  power.  For 
the  kingdom  of  God  is  not  in  word,  but  in  power." 
It  is  not  enough  to  mark  you  as  the  children  of  this 
kingdom ;  or  as  those  over  whose  hearts  the  reign 
of  God  is  established ;  or  as  those  in  whom  a  pre- 
paration is  going  on  here  for  a  place  of  glory  and 
blessedness  hereafter — that  you  know  the  terms  of 
orthodoxy,  or  that  you  can  speak  its  language. 
If  even  an  actual  belief  in  its  doctrine  could  reside 
in  your  mind,  without  fruit  and  without  influence, 
this  would  as  httle  avail  you.  But  it  is  well  to 
know,  both  from  experience  and  from  the  information 
of  Him  who  knew  what  was  ui  man,  that  an  actual 
belief  of  the  Gospel,  is  at  all  times  an  effectual 
belief— that  upon  the  entrance  of  such  a  belief, 
the  kingdom  of  God  comes  to  us  with  power,  being 
that  which  availeth,  even  faith  working  by  love, 
and  purifying  the  heart,  and  overcoming  the  world. 
One  of  the  simplest  cases  of  the  kingdom  of  God 
in  word,  and  not  in  power,  is  that  of  a  child,  with 
its  memory  stored  in  passages  of  Scripture,  and  in 
all  the  answers  to  all  the  questions  of  a  substantial 


310    NATURE  OF  THE  KINGDOM  OF  GOD. 

and  well-digested  catechism.  In  such  an  instance, 
the  tongue  may  be  able  to  rehearse  the  whole  ex- 
pression of  evangelical  truth,  while  neither  the 
meaning  of  the  truth  is  perceived  by  the  understand- 
ing, nor  of  consequence,  can  the  moral  influence  of  the 
truth  be  felt  in  the  heart.  The  learner  has  got 
words,  but  nothing  more.  This  is  the  whole  fi'uit 
of  his  acquisition — nor  would  it  make  any  difference, 
in  as  far  as  the  effect  at  the  time  is  concerned, 
though,  instead  of  words  adapted  to  the  expression 
of  Christian  doctrine,  they  had  been  the  w^ords  of 
a  song,  or  a  fable,  or  any  secular  narrative  and 
performance  whatever.  This  is  all  undeniable 
enough — if  we  could  only  prevail  on  many  men, 
and  many  women,  not  to  deny  its  application  to 
themselves — if  we  could  only  convince  our  grown-up 
children  of  the  absolute  futility  of  many  of  their 
exercises — if  we  could  only  arouse  from  their  dor- 
mancy, our  listless  readers  of  the  Bible — our  men, 
who  make  a  mere  piece-work  of  their  Christianity ; 
who,  in  making  way  through  the  Scriptures,  do  it 
by  the  page,  and,  in  addressing  prayers  to  their 
Maker,  do  it  by  the  sentence  ;  with  whom  the  per- 
usal of  the  sacred  volume,  is  absolutely  little  better 
than  a  mere  exercise  of  the  lip,  or  of  the  eye,  and  a 
preference  for  orthodoxy  is  little  better  than  a  pre- 
ference for  certain  familiar  and  well-known  sounds; 
where  the  thinking  principle  is  almost  never  in  con- 
tact with  the  matter  of  theological  truth,  however 
conversant  both  their  mouths  and  their  memories 
may  be  with  the  language  of  it— so  that  in  fact  the 
doctrine  by  the  knowledge  of  which,  and  the  power 
of  which  it  is,  that  we  are  saved,  lies  as  effectually 


NATURE  OF  THE  KINGDOM  OF  GOD.  311 

hidden  from  their  minds,  as  if  it  lay  wrapt  in  hiero- 
glyphical  obscurity  ;  or.  as  if  their  intellectual  organ 
was  shut  against  all  communication  with  any  thing 
without  them — and  thus  it  is,  that  what  is  not  per- 
ceived by  the  mental  eye,  having  no  possible  oper- 
ation upon  the  mental  feelings,  or  mental  purposes, 
the  kingdom  of  God  cometh  to  them  in  word  only, 
while  not  in  power. 

But  again,  what  is  translated  word  in  this  verse, 
is  also  capable  of  being  rendered  by  the  term 
reason.  It  may  not  only  denote  that  which  consti- 
tutes the  material  vehicle  by  which  the  argument 
conceived  in  the  mind  of  one  man  is  translated  into 
the  mind  of  another — it  may  also  denote  the  argu- 
ment itself ;  and  when  rendered  in  this  way,  it  offers 
to  our  notice  a  very  interesting  case,  of  which  there 
are  not  wanting  many  exemplifications.  In  the 
case  just  now  adverted  to,  the  mere  w^ord  is  in  the 
mouth,  without  its  corresponding  idea  being  in  the 
mind ;  but  in  the  case  immediately  before  us,  ideas 
are  present  as  well  as  words,  and  every  intellectual 
faculty  is  at  its  post,  for  the  purpose  of  entertaining 
them — the  attention  most  thoroughly  awake — and 
the  curiosity  on  the  stretch  of  its  utmost  eagerness 
— and  the  judgment  most  busily  employed  in  the 
work  of  comparing  one  doctrine,  and  one  declara- 
tion with  another — and  the  reason  conducting  its 
long  or  its  intricate  processes — and,  in  a  word,  the 
whole  machinery  of  the  mind  as  powerfully  stimu- 
lated by  a  theological,  as  it  ever  can  be,  by  a 
natural  or  scientific  speculation — and  yet,  with  this 
seeming  advancement  that  it  makes  from  the  lan- 
guage of  Christianity  to  the  substance  of  Christianity, 


312    NATURE  OF  THE  KINGDOM  OF  GOD, 

what  shall  we  thmk  of  it,  if  there  be  no  advancement 
whatever  in  the  power  of  Christianity — no  accession 
to  the  soul  of  any  one  of  those  three  ingredients^ 
which,  taken  together,  make  up  the  apostle's  defini- 
tion of  the  kingdom  of  God — no  augmentation 
either  of  its  righteousness,  or  its  peace,  or  its  joy 
in  the  Holy  Ghost — the  man,  no  doubt,  very  much 
engrossed  and  exercised  with  the  subject  of  divinity, 
but  with  as  little  of  the  real  spirit  and  character  of 
divinity,  thereby  transferred  into  his  own  spirit, 
and  his  own  character,  as  if  he  were  equally  en- 
grossed and  equally  exercised  with  the  subject  of 
mathematics — remaining  in  short,  after  all  his  doc- 
trinal acquisitions  of  the  truth,  an  utter  stranger  to 
the  moral  influence  of  the  truth — and  proying,  in 
the  fact  of  his  being  practically  and  personally  the 
very  same  man  as  before,  that  if  the  kingdom  of 
God  is  not  in  word,  it  is  as  little  in  argument,  but 
in  power. 

If  it  be  of  importance  to  know,  that  a  man  may 
lay  hold,  by  his  memor}%  of  all  the  language  of 
Christianity,  and  yet  not  be  a  Christian — it  is  also 
of  importance  to  know,  that  a  man  may  lay  hold,  by 
his  understanding,  of  all  the  doctrine  of  Christianity, 
and  yet  not  be  a  Clmstian,  It  is  our  opinion,  that 
in  this  case  the  man  has  only  an  apparent  behef, 
Avithout  having  an  actual  belief — that  all  the  doctrine 
is  conceived  by  him,  without  being  credited  by  him 
— that  it  is  the  object  of  his  fancy,  without  being 
the  object  of  his  faith — and  that,  as  on  the  one  hand, 
'f  the  conviction  be  real,  the  consequence  of  another 
heart,  and  another  character,  will  be  sure — so,  on 
the  other  hand,  and  on  the  principle  of  "  by  their 


NATURE  OF  THE  KINGDOM  OF  GOD.  313 

fruits  shall  ye  know  them,"  if  he  want  the  fruit,  it 

is  just  because  he  is  in  want  of  the  foundation if 

there  be  no  produce,  it  is  because  there  is  no  prin- 
ciple— having  experienced  no  salvation  from  sin 
here,  he  shall  experience  no  salvation  from  the 
abode  of  sinners  hereafter.  If  faith  were  present 
with  him,  he  would  be  kept  by  the  power  of  it  unto 
salvation,  from  both — but  destitute  as  he  proves 
himself  to  be  now  of  the  faith  which  sanctifies,  he 
will  be  found  then,  in  the  midst  of  all  his  semblances 
and  all  his  delusions,  to  have  been  equally  destitute 
of  the  faith  whi^h  justifies. 

And  iti^  fT^'haip's,  not  so  difficult  to  stir  up,  in 
the  mind  of  tli'e  learned  controversialist,  and  the 
deeply-exercised  scholar,  the  suspicion,  that  with 
all  his  acquirements  in  the  lore  of  theology,  he  is, 
in  respect  of  its  personal  influence  upon  himself, 
still  in  a  state  of  moral  and  spiritual  unsoundness 
— k  is  not  so  difficult  to  raise  this  feeling  of  self- 
condemnatioj:!  in  his  mind,  as  it  is  to  do  it  in  the 
mind  of  him  who  has  selected  his  one  favourite 
article,  andth^e,  resolved,  if  die  he  must,  to  die 
hard,  has  ta"k^  up  his  obstinate  and  immoveable 
position — and  retiring  within  the  intrenchment  of 
a  few  verses  of  the  Bible,  will  defy  all  the  truth 
and  all  the  thunder  of  its  remaining  declarations ; 
and  with  an  orthodoxy  which  carries  on  all  its  play 
in  his  head,  without  one  moving  or  one  softening 
touch  upon  his  heart,  will  stand  out  to  the  eye  of 
the  world,  both  in  avowed  principle,  and  in  its 
corresponding*  pt^ctice,  a  secure,  sturdy,  firm,  im- 
pregnable Antiiiomian.  He  thinks  that  he  will 
have  heaven,  i)ecause  he  has  faith.     But  if  his  faith 

VOL.  VII.  o 


314     NATURE  OF  THE  KINGDOM  OF  GOD. 

do  not  bring  the  virtues  of  heaven  into  his  hearty 
it  uill  never  spread  either  the  glory  or  the  security 
of  heaven  around  his  person.  The  region  to  which 
he  vainly  thinks  of  looking  forward,  is  a  region  of 
spirituality — and  he  himself  must  be  spiritualized, 
ere  it  can  prove  to  him  a  region  of  enjoyment.  If 
he  count  on  a  different  paradise  from  this,  he  is  as 
widely  mistaken  as  they  who  dream  of  the  luxury 
that  awaits  them  in  the  paradise  of  Mahomet.  He 
misinterprets  the  whole  undertaking  of  Jesus  Christ. 
He  degrades  the  salvation  which  he  hath  achieved, 
into  a  salvation  from  animal  pain.  He  transforms 
the  heaven  which  He  has  opened,  into  a  heaven  of 
animal  gratifications.  He  forgets,  that  on  the  great 
errand  of  man's  restoration,  it  is  not  more  necessary 
to  recall  our  departed  species  to  the  heaven  from 
which  they  had  wandered,  than  it  is  to  recall  to  the 
bosom  of  man  its  departed  worth,  and  its  departed 
excellence.  The  one  is  what  faith  will  do  on  the 
other  side  of  death.  But  the  other  just  as  certainly 
faith  must  do  on  this  side  of  death.  It  is  here  that 
heaven  begins*  It  is  here  that  eternal  life  is  entered 
upon.  It  is  here  that  man  first  breathes  the  air 
of  immortality.  It  is  upon  earth  that  he  learns  the 
rudiments  of  a  celestial  character,  and  first  tastes 
of  celestial  enjoyments.  It  is  here,  that  the  well 
of  water  is  struck  out  in  the  heart  of  renovated 
man,  and  that  fruit  is  made  to  grow  unto  holiness, 
and  then,  in  the  end,  there  is  life  everlasting.  The 
man  whose  threadbare  orthodoxy  is  made  up  of 
meagre  and  unfruitful  positions,  may  think  that  he 
walks  in  clearness,  while  he  is  only  walking  in  the 
cold  lifjht  of  speculation.      He  walks  in  the  feeble 


NATURE  OF  THE  KINGDOM  OF  GOD.  315 

Sparks  of  his  own  kindling.  Were  it  fire  from  the 
sanctuary,  it  would  impart  to  his  unregenerated 
bosom,  of  the  heat,  and  spirit,  and  love  of  the 
sanctuary.  This  is  the  sure  result  of  the  faith  that 
is  unfeigned — and  all  that  a  feigned  faith  can  pos- 
sibly make  out,  will  be  a  fictitious  title-deed,  which 
will  not  stand  before  the  light  of  the  great  day  of 
final  examination.  And  thus  will  it  be  found,  I 
fear,  in  many  cases  of  marked  and  ostentatious 
professorship,  how  possible  a  thing  it  is  to  have  an 
appearance  of  the  kingdom  of  God  in  word,  and 
the  kingdom  of  God  in  letter,  and  the  kingdom  of 
God  in  controversy — while  the  kingdom  of  God  is 
not  in  power. 

But  once  more — instead  of  laying  a  false  security 
upon  one  article,  it  is  possible  to  have  a  mind 
familiarized  to  all  the  articles — to  admit  the  need 
of  holiness,  and  to  demonstrate  the  channel  of 
influence  by  which  it  is  brought  down  from  heaven 
upon  the  hearts  of  believers — to  cast  an  eye  of 
intelligence  over  the  whole  symphony  and  extent  of 
Christian  doctrine — to  lay  bare  those  ligaments  of 
connexion  by  which  a  true  faith  in  the  mind  is  ever 
sure  to  bring  a  new  spirit  and  a  new  practice  along 
with  it — and  to  hold  up  the  lights  both  of  Scripture 
and  of  experience,  over  the  whole  process  of  man's 
regeneration.  It  is  possible  for  one  to  do  all  this 
— and  yet  to  have  no  part  in  that  regeneration — 
to  declare  with  ability  and  effect  the  Gospel  to 
others,  and  yet  himself  be  a  castaway — to  unravel 
the  whole  of  that  spiritual  mechanism,  by  which  a 
sinner  is  transformed  into  a  saint,  while  he  does  not 
exemplify  the  working  of  that  mechanism  in  his  own 


316    NATURE  OF  THE  KINGDOM  OF  QOB. 

person — to  explain  what  must  be  done,  and  what 
must  be  undergone  m  the  process  of  becoramg  one 
of  the  children  of  the  kingdom,  while  he  himself 
remains  one  of  the  children  of  this  world.  To  him 
the  kingdom  of  God  hath  come,  in  word,  and  it 
hath  come  in  letter,  and  it  hath,  come  in  natural 
discernment ;  but  it  hath  not  come  in  power.  He 
may  have  profoundly  studied  the  whole  doctrine  of 
the  kingdom — and  have  conceived  the  various  ideas 
of  which  it  is  composed — and  have  embodied  them 
in  words — and  have  poured  them  forth  in  utter- 
ance— and  -yet  be  as  httle  spiritualized  b^'  these 
manifold  operations,  as  the  air  is  spiritualized  by 
its  being  the  avenue  for  the  sounds  of  his  voice 
to  the  ears  of  his  listening  auditory.  The  living 
man  may,  with  all  the  force  of  his  active  -intelli- 
gence, be  a  mere  vehicle  of  transmission.-  The 
Holy  Ghost  may  leave  the  message  to  take  its 
own  way  through  his  mind — and  may  refuse  the 
accession  of  His  influence,  till  it  make  its  escape 
from  the  lips  of  the  preacher — and  may  trust 
for  its  conveyance  to  those  a'erial  undulations  Ijy 
which  the  report  is  carried  forw'ard  to  an  assembled 
multitude — and  may  only,  after  the  entrance  of 
hearing  has  been  effected  for  the  terms  of  the 
message,  may  only,  after  the  unaided  powers  of 
moral  and  physical  nature  have  brought  tlje 
matter  thus  far,  may  then,  and  not  till  then,  add 
His  own  influence  to  the  trutlis  of  the  message, 
and  send  them  with  this  impregnation  -from  the 
ear  to  the  conscience  of  any  whom  He  hsteth. 
And  thus  from  the  workings  of  a  cold  and  desolate 
bosom  in  the  human  expounder,  may  there  pro- 


NATURE  OF  THE  KINGDOM  OF  GOD.  317 

oeed  a  voice,  which  on  its  way  to  some  of  those 
who  are  assembled  around  him,  shall  turn  out  to 
be  a  voice  of  urgency  and  power.  He  may  be 
the  instrument  of  blessings  to  others,  which  have 
never  come  with  kindly  or  effective  influence  upon 
his  own  heart.  He  may  inspire  an  energy,  which 
he  does  not  feel,  and  pour  a  comfort  into  the 
wounded  spirit,  the  taste  of  which,  and  the  enjoy- 
ment of  which  is  not  permitted  to  his  own — and 
nothing  can  serve  more  effectually  than  this  expe- 
rimental fact  to  humble  him,  and  to  demonstrate 
the  existence  of  a  power  which  cannot  be  wielded 
by  all  the  energies  of  Nature — a  power  often 
refused  to  eloquence,  often  refused  to  the  might 
and  the  glory  of  human  wisdom — often  refused  to 
the  most  strenuous  exertions  of  human  might  and 
human  talent,  and  generally  met  with  in  richest 
abundance  among  the  ministrations  of  the  men  of 
simplicity  and  prayer. 

Some  of  you  have  heard  of  the  individual  who, 
under  an  oppression  of  the  severest  melancholy, 
implored  relief  and  counsel  from  his  physician. 
The  unhappy  patient  was  advised  to  attend  the 
performances  of  a  comedian,  who  had  put  all  the 
world  into  ecstasies.  But  it  turned  out,  that  the 
patient  was  the  comedian  himself — and  that  while 
his  smile  was  the  signal  of  merriment  to  all,  his 
heart  stood  un cheered  and  motionless,  amid  the 
gratulations  of  an  applauding  theatre — and  evening 
after  evening,  did  he  kindle  around  him  a  rapture 
in  which  he  could  not  participate— a  poor,  help- 
less,   dejected    mourner,    among   tiie    tumults    of 


318  NATURE   OF  THE   KINGDOM   OlF  GOD. 

that  high-sounding  gaiety,   which  he  himself  had 
created. 

Let  all  this  touch  our  breasts  with  the  persuasion, 
of  the  nothingness  of  man.  Let  it  lead  us  to 
withdraw  our  confidence  from  the  mere  instrument, 
and  to  carry  it  upwards  to  Him  who  alone  worketh 
all  in  all.  Let  it  reconcile  us  to  the  arrangements 
of  His  providence,  and  assure  our  minds,  that  He 
can  do  with  one  arrangement,  what  we  fondly 
anticipated  from  another.  Let  us  cease  to  be 
violently  affected  by  the  mutabilities  of  a  fleeting 
and  a  shifting  world — and  let  nothing  be  suffered 
to  have  the  power  of  dissolving  for  an  instant,  that 
connection  of  trust  which  should  ever  subsist 
between  our  minds  and  the  will  of  the  all-working 
Deity.  Above  all,  let  us  carefully  separate  between 
our  liking  for  certain  accompaniments  of  the  word, 
and  our  liking  for  the  word  itself.  Let  us  be 
jealous  of  those  human  preferences,  which  may 
bespeak  some  human  and  adventitious  influence 
upon  our  hearts,  and  be  altogether  different  from 
the  influence  of  Christian  truth  upon  Christianized 
and  sanctified  affections.  Let  us  be  tenacious 
only  of  one  thing — not  of  holding  by  particular 
ministers — not  of  saying,  that  "I  am  of  Paul,  or 
Cephas,  or  ApoUos" — not  of  idolizing  the  servant, 
while  the  Master  is  forgotten, — but  let  us  hold  by 
the  Head,  even  Christ.  He  is  the  source  of  all 
spiritual  influence — and  while  the  agents  whom  he 
employs,  can  do  no  more  than  bring  the  kingdom 
of  God  to  you  in  word — it  lies  with  him  either  to 
exalt  one  agency,  or  to  humble  and  depress  another 


NATURE  OF  THE  KINGDOM  OF  GOD.  ^19 

— and  either  with  or  without  such  an  agency,  by 
the  demonstration  of  that  Spirit,  which  is  given 
unto  faith,  to  make  the  kingdom  of  God  come  into 
your  hearts  with  power. 


320  HEAVEN  A  CHARACTEE 

i 

DISCOURSE  VI. 

HEAVEN  A  CHARACTER  AND  NOT  ALOCALITY. 


**  He  that  is  unjust,  let  him  be  unjust  still :  and  he  which  is  filthy, 
let  him  be  filthy  still :  and  he  that  is  righteous,  let  him  be 
righteous  still  :  and  he  that  is  holy,  let  him  be  holy  still." 
— Rev.  xxii.  11. 

Our  first  remark  on  this  passage  of  Scripture,  is, 
how  very  palpably  and  nearly  it  connects  time 
with  eternity.  The  character  wherewith  we 
sink  into  the  grave  at  death,  is  the  very  character 
wherewith  we  shall  re-appear  on  the  day  of  resur- 
rection. The  character  which  habit  has  fixed  and 
strengthened  through  life,  adheres,  it  would  seem, 
to  the  disembodied  spirit,  through  the  mysterious  in- 
terval which  separates  the  day  of  our  dissolution  from 
the  day  of  our  account — when  it  wdll  again  stand 
forth,  the  very  image  and  substance  of  what  it  was, 
to  the  inspection  of  the  Judge  and  the  awards  of  the 
judgment-seat.  The  moral  lineaments  which  be 
graven  on  the  tablet  of  the  inner  man,  and  which 
every  day  of  an  unconverted  life  makes  deeper 
and  more  indelible  than  before,  will  retain  the  very 
impress  they  have  gotten — unaltered  and  unefFaced, 
by  the  transition  from  our  present  to  our  future 
state  of  existence.  There  will  be  a  dissolution, 
and  then  a  reconstruction  of  the  body,  from  the 
sepulchral  dust  into  which  it  had  mouldered.    Bui 


AND  NOT  A  LOCALITY.  321 

there  will  be  neither  a  dissolution  nor  a  renovation 
of  the  spirit,  which,  indestructible  both  in  character 
and  essence,  will  weather  and  retain  its  identity, 
on  the  mid-way  passage  between  this  world  and  the 
next — so  that  at  the  time  of  quitting  its  earthly 
tenement  we  may  say,  that,  if  unjust  now  it  will  be 
unjust  still,  if  filthy  now  it  will  be  filthy  still,  if 
righteous  now  it  will  be  righteous  still,  and  if  holy 
now  it  will  be  holy  still. 

Our  second  remark,  suggested  by  the  scripture 
now  under  consideration,  is  that  there  be  many 
analogies  of  nature  and  experience,  which  even 
death  itself  does  not  interrupt.  There  is  nought 
more  familiar  to  our  daily  observation  than 
the  power  and  inveteracy  of  habit — insomuch  that 
any  vicious  propensity  is  strengthened  by  every 
new  act  of  indulgence;  any  virtuous  principle  is 
more  firmly  established  than  before,  by  every  new 
act  of  resolute  obedience  to  its  dictates.  The  law 
which  connects  the  actings  of  boyhood  or  of  youth 
with  the  character  of  manhood,  is  the  identical,  the 
unrepealed  law  which  connects  our  actings  in  time 
with  our  character  through  eternity.  The  way  in 
which  the  moral  discipline  of  youth  prepares  for  the 
honours  and  the  enjoyments  of  a  virtuous  manhood, 
is  the  very  way  in  which  the  moral  and  spiritual 
discipline  of  a  whole  life  prepares  for  a  virtuous 
and  happy  immortality.  And,  on  the  other  hand, 
the  succession,  as  of  cause  and  efiect,  from  a 
profligate  youth  or  a  dishonest  manhood,  to  a  dis- 
graced and  worthless  old  age — is  just  the  succession, 
also  of  cause  and  effect,  between  the  misdeeds  and 
the  depravities  of  our  history  on  earth,  and  an 
o  2 


322  HEAVEN  A  CHAIlACrER 

inheritance  of  worthlessness  and  wretchedness  for 
ever.  The  law  of  moral  continuity  between  th« 
different  stages  of  human  life,  is  also  the  law  of 
continuity  between  the  two  worlds — which  even 
the  death  that  intervenes  does  not  violate.  Be  he 
a  saint  or  a  sinner,  each  shall  be  filled  with  the 
fruit  of  his  own  ways — so  that  when  translated 
into  their  respective  places  of  fixed  and  everlasting 
destination,  the  one  shall  rejoice  through  eternity 
in  that  pure  element  of  goodness,  which  here  he 
loved  and  aspired  after  ;  the  other,  a  helpless,  a 
degraded  victim  of  those  passions  which  lorded 
over  him  through  life,  shall  be  irrevocably  doomed 
to  that  worst  of  torments  and  that  worst  of  tyranny 
— the  torment  of  his  own  accursed  nature,  the 
inexorable  tyranny  of  evil. 

Our  third  remark  suggested  by  this  scripture  is, 
that  it  affords  no  very  dubious  perspective  of  the 
future  heaven  and  the  future  hell  of  the  New- 
Testament.  We  are  aware  of  the  material  images 
employed  in  scripture,  and  by  which  it  bodies  forth 
its  representation  of  both — of  the  fire,  and  the 
brimstone,  and  the  lake  of  living  agony,  and  the 
gnashing  of  teeth,  and  the  wadings,  the  ceaseless 
wailings  of  distress  and  despair  unutterable,  by 
which  the  one  is  set  before  us  in  characters  of  terror 
and  most  revolting  hideousness — of  the  splendour, 
the  spaciousness,  the  music,  the  floods  of  melody 
and  sights  of  surpassing  lovehness,  by  which  the 
other  is  set  before  us  in  characters  of  bliss  and 
brightness  unperishable ;  with  all  that  can  regale 
the  glorified  senses  of  creatures,  rejoicing  for  ever  in 
me  presence  and  before  the  throne  of  God.     We 


AND  NOT  A  LOCALITY.  323 

8top  not  to  inquire,  and  far  less  to  dispute,  whether 
these  descriptions,  in  the  plain  meaning  and  very 
letter  of  them,  are  to  be  realized.  But  we  hold 
that  it  would  purge  theology  from  many  of  its 
errors,  and  that  it  would  guide  and  enlighten  the 
practical  Christianity  of  many  honest  inquirers — if 
the  moral  character  both  of  heaven  and  hell  were 
more  distinctly  recognized,  and  held  a  more  pro- 
minent place  in  the  regards  and  contemplations  of 
men.  If  it  indeed  be  true  that  the  moral,  rather 
than  the  material,  is  the  main  ingredient,  whether 
of  the  coming  torment  or  the  coming  ecstasy — then 
the  hell  of  the  wicked  may  be  said  to  have  already 
begun,  and  the  heaven  of  the  virtuous  may  be  said 
to  have  already  begun.  The  one,  in  the  bitterness 
of  an  unhinged  and  dissatisfied  spirit,  has  a  foretaste 
of  the  wretchedness  before  him ;  the  other,  in 
the  peace  and  triumphant  complacency  of  an 
approving  conscience,  has  a  foretaste  of  the  happi- 
ness before  him.  Each  is  ripening  for  his  own  ever- 
lasting destiny  ;  and  whether  in  the  depravities  that 
deepen  and  accumulate  on  the  character  of  the  one, 
or  in  the  graces  that  brighten  and  multiply  upon  the 
other — we  see  materials  enough,  either  for  the 
worm  that  dieth  not,  or  for  the  pleasures  that  are 
for  evermore. 

But  again,  it  may  be  asked,  will  spiritual 
elements  alone  suffice  to  make  up,  either  the 
intense  and  intolerable  wretchedness  of  a  hell,  or 
the  intense  beatitude  of  a  heaven?  For  an  answer 
to  this  question,  let  us  first  turn  your  attention  to 
the  former  of  these  receptacles.  And  we  ask  you 
to  think  of  the  state  of  that  heart  in  respect  to 


324  HEAVEN  A  CHARACTER 

sensation,  which  is  the  seat  of  a  concentrated 
and  all-absorbing  selfishness,  which  feels  for  no 
other  interest  than  its  own,  and  holds  no  fellowship 
of  truth  or  honesty  or  confidence  with  the  fellow- 
beings  around  it.  The  owner  of  such  a  heart  may 
live  in  society ;  but.  cut  off  as  he  is  by  his  own 
sordid  nature  from  the  reciprocities  of  honourable 
feeling  and  good  faith,  he  may  be  said  to  live  an 
exile  in  the  midst  of  it.  He  is  a  stranger  to  the 
day-light  of  the  moral  world ;  and,  instead  of 
walking  abroad  on  an  open  platform  of  free  and 
fearless  communion  with  his  fellows,  he  spends  a 
cold  and  heartless  existence  in  the  hiding-place  of 
his  own  thoughts.  You  mistake  it,  if  you  think 
of  this  creeping  and  ignoble  creature,  that  he  knows 
aught  of  the  real  truth  or  substance  of  enjoyment ; 
or  however  successful  he  may  have  been  in  the 
wiles  of  his  paltry  selfishness,  that  a  sincere  or  a 
solid  satisfaction  has  been  the  result  of  it.  On  the 
contrary,  if  you  enter  his  heart,  you  will  there  find 
a  distaste  and  disquietude  in  the  lurking  sense  of 
its  own  worthlessness  ;  and  that  dissevered  from 
the  respect  of  society  without,  it  finds  no  refuge 
within  where  he  is  abandoned  by  the  respect  of  his 
own  conscience.  It  does  not  consist  with  moral 
nature,  that  there  should  be  internal  happiness  or 
internal  harmony,  when  the  moral  sense  is  made  to 
suffer  perpetual  violence.  A  man  of  cunning 
and  concealment,  however  dexterous,  however 
triumphant  in  his  worthless  policy,  is  not  at  ease. 
The  stoop,  the  downcast  regards,  the  dark  and 
sinister  expression,  of  him  who  cannot  lift  up  his 
head  among  his  fellow  men,  or  look  his  companions 


AND  NOT  A  LOCALITY.  325 

in  the  face,  are  the  sensible  proofs,  that  he  who 
knows  himseh'  to  be  dishonest  feels  himself  to  be 
degraded ;  and  the  inward  sense  of  dishonour  which 
haunts  and  humbles  him  here,  is  but  the  commence- 
ment of  that  shame  and  everlasting  contempt  to 
which  he  shall  awaken  hereafter.  This,  you  will 
observe,  is  a  purely  moral  chastisement ;  and,  apart 
altogether  from  the  infliction  of  violence  or  pain  on 
the  sentient  economy,  is  enough  to  overwhelm  the 
spirit  that  is  exercised  thereby.  Let  him  then  that 
is  unjust  now  be  unjust  still ;  and,  in  stepping  from 
time  to  eternity,  he  bears,  in  his  own  distempered 
bosom,  the  materials  of  his  comino^  vengeance  alone: 
with  him.  The  character  itself  will  be  the  execu- 
tioner of  its  own  condemnation  ;  and  when,  instead 
of  each  suffering  apart,  the  unrighteous  are  con- 
gregated together — as  in  the  parable  of  the  tares, 
where,  instead  of  each  plant  being  severally 
destroyed,  the  order  is  given  to  bind  them  up  in 
bundles  and  burn  them — we  may  be  well  assured, 
that,  where  the  turbulence  and  disorder  of  an 
unrighteous  society  are  superadded  to  those 
sufferings  which  prey  in  secrecy  and  solitude 
within  the  heart  of  each  individual  member,  a 
ten-fold  fiercer  and  more  intolerable  agony  will 
ensue  from  it.  The  anarchy  of  a  state,  when  the 
authority  of  its  government  is  for  a  time  suspended, 
forms  but  a  feeble  representation  of  that  everlasting 
anarchy,  when  the  unrighteous  of  all  ages  are  let 
loose  to  act  and  react  with  unmitigated  violence  on 
each  other.  In  this  conflict  of  assembled  myriads ; 
this  fierce  and  fell  collision  between  the  outrages  of 
injustice  on    the   one   side,    and   the    outcries   of 


326  HEAVEN  A  CHARACTER 

resentment  on  the  other ;  and,  though  no  pain 
were  inflicted,  in  this  war  of  passions  and  of  pur- 
poses, the  passion  and  purpose  of  violence  in  one 
quarter  calling  forth  the  passion  and  the  purpose 
of  keenest  vengeance  back  again — though  no 
material  or  sentient  agony  were  felt — though  a  war 
of  disembodied  spirits — yet  in  the  wild  tempest  of 
emotions  alone — the  hatred,  the  fury,  the  burning 
recollection  of  injured  rights,  and  the  brooding 
thoughts  of  yet  unfulfilled  retaliation — in  these, 
and  these  alone,  do  we  behold  the  materials  enough 
of  a  dire  and  dreadful  pandemonium ;  and,  apart 
from  corporeal  suffering  altogether,  may  we  behold, 
in  the  full  and  final  developments  of  character 
alone,  enough  for  imparting  all  its  corrosion  to  the 
worm  that  dieth  not,  enough  for  sustaining  in  all 
its  fierceness  the  fire  that  is  not  quenched. 

But  there  is  another  moral  ingredient  in  the 
future  sufferings  of  the  wicked,  beside  the  one  of 
which  we  have  now  spoken — suggested  to  us  by 
the  second  clause  of  our  text ;  and  from  which  we 
learn  that,  not  only  will  the  unjust  man  carry  his 
falsehoods  and  his  frauds  along  with  him  to  the 
place  of  condemnation,  but  that  also  the  voluptuary 
will  carry  his  unsanctified  habits  and  unhallowed 
passions  thitherward.  "  Let  him  that  is  filthy  be 
filthy  still."  We  would  here  take  the  opportunity 
of  exposing,  what  we  fear  is  a  frequent  delusion  in 
society — who  give  their  respect  to  the  man  of 
honour  and  integrity — and  he  does  not  forfeit  that 
respect,  though  known  at  the  same  time  to  be  a 
man  of  dissipation.  Not  that  we  think  any  one  of 
the  virtues,  which  enter  into  the  composition  of  a 


AkU  not  a  locality.  327 

perfect  character,  can  suffer,  without  all  the  other 
virtues  suffering  along  with  it.  We  believe  that  a 
conjunction,  between  a  habit  of  unlawful  pleasure 
and  the  maintenance  of  a  strict  resolute  exalted 
equity  and  truth,  is  very  seldom,  we  could  almost 
say,  is  never  realised.  The  man  of  forbidden  in- 
dulgence, in  the  prosecution  of  his  objects,  has  a 
thousand  degrading  fears  to  encounter ;  and  many 
concealments  to  practise ;  perhaps  low  and  un- 
worthy artifices  to  which  he  must  descend;  and 
how  can  either  his  honour  or  his  humanity  be  said 
to  survive,  if  at  length,  in  his  heedless  and  impetu- 
ous career,  he  shall  trample  on  the  dearest  rights 
and  the  most  sacred  inter-ests  of  families  ?  With 
us  it  has  all  the  authority  of  a  moral  aphorism, 
that  the  sobrieties  of  human  virtue  can  never  be 
invaded,  without  the  equities  of  human  virtue  also 
being  invaded.  The  moralities  of  human  life  are 
too  closely  linked  and  interwoven  with  each  other, 
as  that  though  one  should  be  detached,  the  others 
might  be  left  uninjured  and  entire  ;  and  so  no  one 
can  cast  his  purity  away  from  him,  without  a  vio- 
lence being  done  to  the  general  moral  structure 
and  consistency  of  his  whole  character.  But,  be 
this  as  it  may ;  we  have  the  authority  of  the  text 
and  the  oft  reiterated  affirmations  of  the  New 
Testament,  for  saying  of  the  voluptuary,  that,  if 
the  countenance  of  the  world  be  not  withdrawn 
from  him,  the  gate  of  heaven  is  at  least  shut  against 
him  ;  that  nothing  unclean  or  unholy  can  enter 
there ;  and  that,  carrying  his  uncrucified  affec- 
tions into  the  place  of  condemnation,  he  will  find 
tnem  too  to  be  the  mniisters  of  wrath,  the  executioners 


328  HEAVEN  A  CIIAllACTKR 

of  a  still  sorer  vengeance.  The  loathing,  the  re- 
morse, the  felt  and  conscious  degradation,  the 
dreariness  of  heart  that  follow  in  the  train  of  guilty 
indulgence  here — these  form  but  the  be2:innin£:  of 
his  sorrows  ;  and  are  but  the  presages  and  the  pre- 
cursors of  that  deeper  wretchedness,  which,  by  the 
unrepealed  laws  of  moral  nature,  the  same  character 
will  entail  on  its  possessors  in  another  state  of 
existence.  They  are  but  the  penalties  of  vice  in 
embryo,  and  they  may  give  at  least  the  conception 
of  what  are  these  penalties  in  full.  It  will  add — it 
will  add  inconceivably,  to  the  darkness  and  disorder 
of  that  moral  chaos,  in  which  the  impenitent  shall 
spend  their  eternity — when  the  uproar  of  the  bac- 
chanalian and  the  licentious  emotions  is  thus  super- 
added, to  the  selfish  and  malignant  passions  of  our 
nature ;  and  when  the  frenzy  of  unsated  desire, 
followed  up  by  the  languor  and  the  compunction  of 
its  worthless  indulgence,  shall  make  up  the  sad 
history  of  many  an  unhappy  spirit.  We  need  not 
to  dwell  on  the  picture,  though  it  brings  out  into 
bolder  relief  the  all-important  truth,  that  there  is 
an  inherent  bitterness  in  sin;  that,  by  the  very 
constitution  of  our  nature,  moral  evil  is  its  own 
curse  and  its  own  worst  punishment ;  that  the 
wicked  on  the  other  side  of  death,  but  reap  what 
they  sow  on  this  side  of  it ;  and  that,  whether  we 
look  to  the  tortures  of  a  distempered  spirit  or  to 
the  countless  His  of  a  distempered  society,  we  may 
be  very  sure  that  to  the  character  of  its  inmates — a 
character  which  they  have  fostered  upon  earth,  and 
which  now  remains  fixed  on  them  through  eternity 
— the  main  wretchedness  of  hell  is  owing. 


AND  NOT  A  LOCALITY.  329 

Before  quitting  this  part  of  the  subject,  we  have 
but  one  remark  more  to  offer.  It  may  be  felt  as 
if  we  had  overstated  the  power  of  mere  character 
to  beget  a  wretchedness  at  all  approaching  to  the 
wretchedness  of  hell — seeing  that  the  character  is 
often  realised  in  this  world,  without  bringing  along 
with  it  a  distress  or  a  discomfort  which  is  at  all 
intolerable.  Neither  the  unjust  man  of  our  text, 
nor  the  licentious  man  of  our  text,  is  seen  to  be  so 
unhappy  here,  in  virtue  of  the  moral  characteristics 
which  respectively  belong  to  them,  as  to  justify  the 
imagination,  that  there,  these  characteristics  will 
be  of  power,  to  effectuate  such  anguish  and  dis- 
order of  spirit  as  we  have  now  been  representing. 
But  it  is  forgotten,  first,  that  the  world  presents 
in  its  business,  its  amusements,  and  its  various 
gratifications,  a  refuge  from  the  mental  agonies  of 
reflection  and  remorse — and,  secondly,  that  the 
governments  of  the  world  offer  a  restraint  against 
the  outbreakings  of  violence,  which  would  keep  up 
a  perpetual  anarchy  in  the  species.  Let  us  simply 
conceive  of  these  two  securities  against  our  having 
even  now  a  hell  upon  earth,  that  they  are  both 
taken  down ;  that  there  is  no  longer  such  a  world 
as  ours,  affording  to  each  individual  spirit  innu- 
merable diversions  from  the  burden  of  its  ov/n 
thoughts ;  and  no  longer  such  a  human  govern- 
ment as  ours,  affording  to  general  society  a  power- 
ful defence  against  the  countless  variety  of  ills,  that 
would  otherwise  rage  and  tumultuate  within  its 
borders — then,  as  sure  as  that  a  solitary  prison  is 
felt  by  every  criminal  to  be  the  most  dreadful  of  all 
punishments  ;  and  as  sure  as  that,  on  the  authority 


330  HEAVEN  A  CHAKACTKft 

of  law  being  suspended,  the  reign  of  terror  would 
commence,  and  the  unchained  passions  of  humanity- 
would  go  forth  over  the  face  of  the  land  to  raven 
and  to  destroy — so  surely,  out  of  moral  elements  and 
influences  alone,  might  an  eternity  of  utter  wretched- 
ness and  despair  be  entailed  on  the  rebellious: 
And,  only  let  all  the  unjust  and  all  the  licentious 
of  our  text  be  formed  into  a  community  by  them- 
selves, and  the  Christianity  which  now  acts  as  a 
purifying  and  preserving  salt  upon  the  earth  be 
wholly  removed  from  them ;  and  then  it  will  be 
seen  that  the  picture  has  not  been  overcharged ; 
but  that  the  wretchedness  is  intense  and  universal, 
just  because  the  wickedness  reigns  uncontrolled, 
without  mixture  and  without  mitigation. 

But  we  now  exchange  this  appalling  for  a  delight- 
ful contemplation.  The  next  clause  of  our  text 
suggests  to  us  the  moral  character  of  heaven.  We 
learn  from  it  that,  on  the  universal  principle  "  as  a 
tree  falleth  so  it  lies,"  the  righteous  now  will  be 
righteous  still.  We  no  more  dispute  the  material 
accompaniments  of  heaven,  than  we  dispute  the 
material  accompaniments  in  the  place  of  condem- 
nation. But  still  we  must  affirm  of  the  happiness 
that  reigns,  and  holds  unceasing  jubilee  there — that, 
mainly  and  pre-eminently,  it  is  the  happiness  of 
virtue ;  that  the  joy  of  the  eternal  state  is  not  so 
much  a  sensible  or  a  tasteful  or  even  an  intellectual 
as  it  is  a  moral  and  spiritual  joy  ;  that  it  is  a  thing 
of  mental,  infinitely  more  than  it  is  a  thing  of  cor- 
poreal gratification  ;  and,  to  convince  us  how  much 
the  former  has  the  power  and  predominance  over 
the  latter,  we  bid  you  reflect,  that,  even  in  this 


AND  NOT  A  LOCALITY.  331 

world,  with  ail  the  defect  and  disorder  of  its  ma- 
terialism, the  curse  upon  its  ground  inflicting  the 
necessity  of  sore  labour,  and  the  angry  tempest 
from  its  sky  after  destroying  or  sweeping  off  the 
fruits  of  it,  the  infirmity  of  their  feeble  and  dis- 
tempered frames,  after  the  pining  sickness  and  at 
times  the  sore  agony — yet,  in  spite  of  these,  we 
ask  whether  it  would  not  hold  nearly  if  not  uni- 
versally true,  that  if  all  men  were  righteous  then 
all  men  would  be  happy.  Just  imagine  for  a  mo- 
ment, that  honour  and  integrity  and  benevolence 
were  perfect  and  universal  in  the  world  ;  that  each 
held  the  property  and  right  and  reputation  of  his 
neighbour  to  be  dear  to  him  as  his  own  ;  that  the 
suspicions  and  the  jealousies  and  the  heart-burnings, 
whether  of  hostile  violence  or  envious  competition, 
were  altogether  banished  from  human  society; 
that  the  emotions,  at  all  times  delightful,  of  good- 
will on  the  one  side,  were  ever  and  anon  calling 
the  emotions  no  less  delightful  of  gratitude  back 
again  ;  that  truth  and  tenderness  hold  their  secure 
abode  in  every  family;  and,  on  stepping  forth 
among  the  wider  companionships  of  life,  that  each 
could  confidently  rejoice  in  every  one  he  met  with 
as  a  brother  and  a  friend — we  ask  if  on  this  simple 
change,  a  change  you  wiU  observe  in  the  morale 
of  humanity,  though  winter  should  repeat  its  storms 
as  heretofore,  and  every  element  of  nature  were  to 
abide  unaltered— yet,  in  virtue  of  a  process  and  a 
revolution  altogether  mental,  would  not  our  mil- 
lennium have  begun,  and  a  heaven  on  earth  be 
realized  ?  Xow  let  this  contemplation  be  borne 
aloft,  as  it  were,  to  the  upper  sanctuary,  where  w© 


332  HEAVEN  A  CHARACTER  ^ 

are  told  there  are  the  spirits  of  just  men  made  per- 
fect, or  where  those  who  were  once  the  righteous 
on  earth  are  righteous  still.  Let  it  be  remembered, 
that  nothing  is  admitted  there,  which  worketh 
wickedness  or  maketh  a  lie ;  and  that  therefore, 
with  every  feculence  of  evil  detached  and  dissevered 
from  the  mass,  there  is  nought  in  heaven  but  the 
pure  the  transparent  element  of  goodness — its  un- 
bounded love,  its  tried  and  unalterable  faithfulness, 
its  confiding  sincerity.  Think  of  the  expressive 
designation  given  to  it  in  the  Bible,  the  land  of 
uprightness.  Above  all  think,  that,  revealed  in 
visible  glory,  the  righteous  God,  who  loveth 
righteousness,  there  sitteth  upon  His  throne,  in 
the  midst  of  a  rejoicing  family — Himself  rejoicing 
over  them,  because,  formed  in  His  own  likeness, 
they  love  what  He  loves,  they  rejoice  in  what  He 
rejoices.  There  may  be  palms  of  triumph  ;  there 
may  be  crowns  of  unfading  lustre ;  there  may  be 
pavements  of  emerald,  and  rivers  of  pleasure,  and 
groves  of  surpassing  loveliness,  and  palaces  of 
delight,  and  high  arches  in  heaven  which  ring  with 
sweetest  melody — but,  mainly  and  essentially,  it  is 
a  moral  glory  which  is  lighted  up  there  ;  it  is  vir- 
tue which  blooms  and  is  immortal  there  ;  it  is  the 
goodness  by  which  the  spirits  of  the  holy  are  re- 
gulated here,  it  is  this  which  forms  the  beatitude 
of  eternity.  The  righteous  now,  who,  when  they 
die  and  rise  again,  shall  be  righteous  still,  have 
heaven  already  in  their  bosoms  ;  and  when  they 
enter  within  its  portals,  they  carry  the  very  being 
and  substance  of  its  blessedness  along  with  them — 
the  character  which  is  itself  the  whole  of  heaven's 


AND  NOT  A  LOCALITY.  333 

worth,  the  character  which  is  the  very  essence  of 
heaven's  enjoyments. 

"  Let  him  that  is  holy,  be  holy  still."  The  two 
clauses  descriptive  of  the  character  in  the  place  of 
celestial  blessedness,  are  counterparts  to  the  clauses 
descriptive  of  the  character  in  the  place  of  infernal 
woe.  He  that  is  righteous  in  the  one  stands  con- 
trasted with  him  that  is  unjust  in  the  other.  He 
that  is  holy  in  the  one  stands  contrasted  with  him 
that  is  licentious  in  the  other.  But  we  would  have 
you  attend  to  the  full  extent  and  significance  of 
the  term  "  holy."  It  is  not  abstinence  from  the 
outward  deeds  of  profligacy  alone.  It  is  not  a  mere 
recoil  from  impurity  in  action.  It  is  a  recoil  from 
impurity  in  thought.  It  is  that  quick  and  sensitive 
delicacy  to  which  even  the  very  conception  of  evil 
is  oiFensive — a  virtue  which  has  its  residence  within; 
which  takes  guardianship  of  the  heart,  as  of  a 
citadel  or  unviolated  sanctuary  in  which  no  wrong 
or  worthless  imagination  is  permitted  to  dwell.  It 
is  not  purity  of  action  that  is  all  which  we  contend 
for.  It  is  exalted  purity  of  sentiment— the  ethereal 
purity  of  the  third  heavens,  which,  if  once  settled 
in  the  heart,  brings  the  peace  and  the  triumph  and 
the  unutterable  serenity  of  heaven  along  with  it. 
In  the  maintenance  of  this,  there  is  a  curious  ele- 
vation ;  there  is  the  complacency,  we  had  almost 
said  the  pride,  of  a  great  moral  victory  over  the 
infirmities  of  an  earthly  and  accursed  nature ;  there 
is  a  health  and  harmony  to  the  soul ;  a  beauty  of 
holiness,  which,  though  it  effloresces  on  the  coun- 
tenance and  the  manner  and  the  outward  path,  is 
itself  so  thoroughly  internal,  as  to  make  purity  of 


334  HEAVEN  A  CHARACTER 

heart  the  most  distmctive  evidence  of  a  work  of 
grace  in  time,  the  most  distinct  and  decisive  evi- 
dence of  a  character  that  is  ripening  and  expanding 
for  the  glories  of  eternity.  "  Blessed  are  the  pure 
in  heart,  for  they  shall  see  God."  "  Without 
hohness  no  man  shall  see  God."  ''  Into  the  holy 
city  nothing  which  defileth  or  worketh  an  abomi- 
nation shall  enter."  These  are  distinct  and  de- 
cisive passages,  and  point  to  that  consecrated  way, 
through  which  alone,  the  gate  of  heaven  can  be 
opened  to  us.  On  this  subject,  there  is  a  remark- 
able harmony,  between  the  didactic  sayings  of 
various  books  in  the  New  Testament,  and  the  de- 
scriptive scenes  which  are  laid  before  us  in  the 
book  of  Revelations.  However  partial  and  im- 
perfect the  glimpses  there  afforded  of  heaven  may 
be,  one  thing  is  palpable  as  day,  that  holiness  is 
its  very  atmosphere.  It  is  the  only  element  which 
its  inmates  breathe,  and  which  it  is  their  supreme 
and  ineffable  delight  to  breathe  in.  They  luxuriate 
therein,  as  in  their  best-loved  and  most  congenial 
element.  Holiness  is"  their  oil  of  gladness — the 
elixir,  if  we  may  use  the  expression,  the  moral 
elixir  of  glorified  spirits.  And  in  their  joyful 
hosannas,  whether  of  "  Holy,  Holy,  Holy,  Lord 
God  Almighty,"  or  of  "Just  and  true  are  thy  ways 
thou  King  of  Saints,"  we  may  read,  that,  as  virtue 
in  the  Godhead  is  the  theme  of  their  adoration, 
so  virtue  in  themselves  is  the  very  treasure  they 
have  laid  up  in  heaven — the  wealth,  as  well  as  the 
ornament,  of  theu'  now  celestial  natures. 

We  would  once  more  advert  to  a  prevalent  de- 
lusion that  obtains  in  society.      Wo  are  aware  of 


AND  NOT  A  LOCALITY.  335 

nothing  more  ruinous,  than  the  acquiescence  of 
whole  multitudes  in  a  low  standard  of  qualifications 
for  Heaven.      The  distinct  aim  is  to  be  righteous 
now,  that,  after  the  death  and  the  resurrection, 
you  may  be  righteous  still — to  be  holy  now,  that 
you  may  be  holy  still.      But  hold  it  not  enough, 
that  you  are  free  from  the  dishonesties  which  would 
forfeit   the  mere  respect  and  confidence    of   the 
w^orld,   or  from  the  profligacies  which  even  the 
world  itself  would  hold  to  be  disgraceful.      There 
is  a  certain  amount  of  morality,  which  is  in  demand 
upon  earth,  but  which  is  miserably  short  of  the 
requisite  preparation  for  Heaven — the  holiness  in- 
dispensable there,  is  a  universal  an  unspotted  and 
withal  a  mental  and  spiritual  holiness.     It  is  this 
which  distinguishes  the  morahty  of  a  regenerated 
and  aspiring  saint,  from  the  morality  of  a  respect- 
able citizen,  who  still  is  but  a  citizen  of  the  world, 
with  his  conversation  not  in  heaven,  with  neither 
his  heart  nor  his  treasure  there.      The  righteous 
of  our  text  would  recoil  from  the  least  act  of  un- 
faithfulness, from  being  unfaithful  in  the  least  as 
from  being  unfaithful  in  much.      The  holy  of  our 
text  would  shrink  in  sensitive  aversion  and  alarm 
from  the  first  approaches  of  evil,  from  the  incipient 
contaminations  of  thought  and  fancy  and  feeling, 
as  from  the  foul  and  final  contaminations  of  the 
outv\ard  history.     Both  are  diligent  to  be  found  of 
Christ  without  spot  and  blameless,  in  the  great  day 
of  account — glorifying  the  Lord  with  their  soul  and 
spirit,  as  well  as  with  their  bodies — aspiring  after 
those  graces,  which,  unseen  by  every  earthly  eye, 
belong  to  the  hidden  man  of  the  heart,  and  in  the 


336  HEAVEN  A  CHARACTEIi 

sight  of  heaven  are  of  great  price — and  so  proceed-^ 
ing  onward  from  strength  to  strength  on  this  lofty 
path  of  obedience,  till  they  appear  perfect  before 
God  in  Zion. 

We  feel  that  we  have  not  nearly  exhausted 
the  subject  of  our  text,  by  these  brief  and  almost 
miscellaneous  observations.  The  truth  is,  it  is 
a  great  deal  too  unwieldy  for  any  single  address, 
and  we  shall  therefore  conclude  with  the  notice 
of  one  specimen,  that  might  be  alleged  for  the 
importance  of  the  view  that  we  have  just  given, 
in  purging  theology  from  error.  If  the  moral 
character  then  of  these  future  states  of  existence, 
were  distinctly  understood  and  consistently  ap- 
plied, it  would  serve  directly  and  decisively  to  ex- 
tinguish antinomianismo  It  would  in  fact  reduce, 
that  heresy  to  a  contradiction  in  terms.  There  is 
no  sound  and  scriptural  Christian,  who  ever  thinks 
of  virtue  as  the  price  of  heaven.  It  is  something 
a  great  deal  higher,  it  is  heaven  itself — the  very 
essence,  as  we  have  already  said,  of  heaven's 
blessedness.  It  occupies  therefore  a  much  higher 
place  than  the  secondary  and  the  subordinate  one, 
ascribed  to  it  even  by  many  of  the  writers  termed 
evangelical — who  view  it  mainly  as  a  token  or  an 
evidence  that  heaven  will  be  ours.  Instead  of 
which  it  is  the  very  substance  of  heaven — a  sample 
on  hand  of  the  identical  good,  which,  in  larger 
measure  and  purer  quality,  is  afterwards  awaiting 
us — an  entrance  on  the  path  which  leads  to  heaven ; 
or  rather  an  actual  lodgement  of  ourselves  within 
that  line  of  demarcation,  which  separates  the  hea- 
Ten  of  the  New  Testament  from  the  hell  of  the 


AND  NOT  A  LOCALITY.  337 

New  Testament.  For  heaven  is  not  so  much  a 
locality  as  a  character  ;  and  we,  by  a  moral  transi- 
tion from  the  old  to  the  new  character,  have  in  fact 
crossed  the  threshold,  and  are  now  rejoicing  within 
the  confines  of  God's  spiritual  family.  By  the 
doctrine  of  justification  through  faith,  we  under- 
stand that  Christ  purchased  our  right  of  admittance 
into  heaven — or  opened  its  door  for  us.  Is  there 
aught  antinomian  in  this  ?  The  obstacle,  the 
legal  obstacle,  between  us  and  a  life  of  prosperous 
and  never-ending  virtue,  is  now  broken  down  ;  and 
is  it  upon  that  event,  that  we  are  to  relinquish  the 
path  which  has  just  been  opened  to  welcome  and 
invite  our  advancing  footsteps  ?  The  doctrine  of 
justification  by  faith  is  not  an  obstacle  to  virtue — 
it  is  but  an  introduction  to  it.  It  is  in  truth  the 
removal  of  an  obstacle — the  unfastening  of  that 
drag  which  before  held  us  in  apathy  and  despair ; 
and  restrained  us  from  breaking  forth  on  that 
career  of  obedience,  in  which,  with  the  hope  of 
glory  before  us,  we  purify  ourselves  even  as  Christ 
is  pure.  The  purpose  of  His  death  was  not  to 
supersede,  but  to  stimulate  our  obedience.  *'  He 
gave  himself  for  us  to  redeem  us  from  all  iniquity 
and  purify  to  himself  a  peculiar  people  zealous  of 
good  works."  The  object  of  His  promises  is  not 
to  lull  our  indolence,  but  rouse  us  to  activity. 
"  Having  received  these  promises  therefore,  dearly 
beloved,  let  us  cleanse  ourselves  from  all  filthiness 
of  the  flesh  and  spirit,  perfecting  holiness  in  the 
fear  of  God." 

We  expatiate  no  further;  but  shall  be  happy, 
if,  as  the  fruit  of  these  imperfect  observations,  you 

VOL.  VII.  p 


338  HEAVEN  A  CHARACTER,  &C. 

can  be  made  to  recognise  how  distinctly  practical 
a  business  the  work  of  Christianity  is.  It  is  simply 
to  destroy  one  character,  and  to  build  up  another 
in  its  room ;  to  resist  the  temptations  which  vitiate 
and  debase,  and  make  all  the  graces  and  morahties 
which  enter  into  the  composition  of  perfect  virtue 
the  objects  of  our  most  strenuous  cultivation.  In 
the  expediting  of  this  mighty  transformation,  on 
the  completion  of  which  there  hinges  our  eternity, 
we  have  need  of  believing  prayer ;  a  thorough  re- 
nunciation of  all  dependence  on  our  own  strength; 
a  thorough  reliance  on  the  proffered  strength  and 
aid  of  the  upper  sanctuary ;  a  deep  sense  of  our 
infirmities,  and  constant  application  for  that  Spirit 
who  has  promised  to  help  them — that,  in  the 
language  of  the  Apostle  we  may  strive  mightily, 
according  to  the  grace  which  worketh  in  us 
mightily. 


THE  REASONABLENESS  OF  FAITH.  339 

DISCOURSE  VII. 

ON  THE  REASONABLENESS  OF  FAITH. 


'«  But  before  faith  came,  we  were  kept  under  the  law,  shut  up 
unto  the  faith  which  should  afterwards  be  revealed." — Gala- 
TiANS  iii.  23. 

''  Shut  up  unto  the  faith."    This  is  the  expression 
which  we  fix  upon  as  the  subject  of  our  present 
discourse— and  to  let  you  more  effectually  into  the 
meaning  of  it,  it  may  be  right  to  state,  that  in 
the  preceding  clause  "  kept  under  the  law,"  the 
term  kept,  is,  in  the  original  Greek,  derived  from 
a  word  which  signifies  a  sentinel.      The  mode  of 
conception  is  altogether  military.    The  law  is  made 
to  act  the  part  of  a  sentry,  guarding  every  avenue 
but  one— and  that  one  leads  those  who  are  compelled 
to  take  it  to  the  faith  of  the  Gospel.      They  are 
shut  up  to  this  faith  as  their  only  alternative— Uke 
an  enemy  driven  by  the  superior  tactics  of  an  op- 
posing general,  to  take  up  the  only  position  in  which 
they  can  maintain  themselves,  or  fly  to  the  only- 
town  in  which  they  can  find  a  refuge  or  a  security. 
This  seems  to  have  been  a  favourite  style  of  argu- 
ment with   Paul,  and  the  way  in  which  he  often 
carried  on  an  intellectual  warfare  with  the  enemies 
of  his  Master's  cause.      It  forms  the  basis  of  that 
masterly  and  decisive  train  of  reasoning,  which  we 
have  in  his  epistle  to  the  Romans.    By  the  opera- 


340  THE   REASONABLENESS  OF   FAITH. 

tion  of  a  skilful  tactics,  he,  (if  we  may  be  allowed 
the  expression)  manoeuvered  them,  and  shut  them 
up  to  the  faith  of  the  gospel.  It  gave  prodigious 
effect  to  his  argument,  when  he  reasoned  with  them, 
as  he  often  does,  upon  their  own  principles,  and 
turned  them  into  instruments  of  conviction  against 
themselves.  With  the  Jews  he  reasoned  as  a  Jew. 
He  made  a  full  concession  to  them  of  the  leading 
principles  of  Judaism — and  this  gave  him  possession 
of  the  vantage  ground  upon  which  these  principles 
stood.  He  made  use  of  the  Jewish  law  as  a  sen- 
tinel to  shut  them  out  of  every  other  refuge,  and 
to  shut  them  up  to  the  refuge  xaid  before  them  in 
the  Gospel.  He  led  them  to  Christ  by  a  school- 
master which  they  could  not  refuse — and  the  lesson 
of  this  schoolmaster,  though  a  very  decisive,  was 
a  very  short  one.  "  Cursed  be  he  that  continueth 
not  in  all  the  words  of  this  law  to  do  them."  But, 
in  point  of  fact,  they  had  not  done  them.  To  them 
then  belonged  the  curse  of  the  violated  law.  The 
awful  severity  of  its  sanctions  was  upon  them. 
They  found  the  faith  and  the  free  offer  of  the  Gospel 
to  be  the  only  avenue  open  to  receive  them.  They 
were  shut  up  unto  this  avenue ;  and  the  law,  by 
concluding  them  all  to  be  under  sin,  left  them  no 
other  outlet  but  the  free  act  of  grace  and  of  mercy 
laid  before  us  in  the  New  Testament.    . 

But  this  is  not  the  only  example  of  that  peculiar 
way  in  which  St.  Paul  has  managed  his  discussions 
with  the  enemies  of  the  faith.  He  carried  the 
principle  of  being  all  things  to  all  men  into  his  very 
reasonings.  He  had  Gentiles  as  well  as  Jews  to 
contend  with — and  he  often  made  some  sentiment 


THE  REASONABLENESS  OF  FAITH.  341 

or  conviction  of  their  own,  the  starting  point  of  his 
argument.  In  this  same  epistle  to  the  Romans, 
he  pleaded  with  the  Gentiles  the  acknowledged  law 
of  nature  and  of  conscience.  In  his  speech  to  the 
men  of  Athens,  he  dated  his  argument  from  a  point 
in  their  own  superstition.  In  this  way  he  drew 
converts  both  from  the  ranks  of  Judaism,  and  the 
ranks  of  idolatry — and  whether  it  was  the  school 
of  Gamaliel  in  Jerusalem,  or  the  school  of  poetry 
and  philosophy  in  countries  of  refinement,  that  he 
had  to  contend  with,  his  accomplished  mind  was 
never  at  a  loss  for  principles  by  which  he  bore  down 
the  hostility  of  his  adversaries,  and  shut  them  up 
unto  the  faith. 

But  there  is  a  fashion  in  philosophy  as  well  as  in 
other  things.  In  the  course  of  centuries,  new 
schools  are  formed  ;  and  the  old,  with  all  their  doc- 
trines, and  all  their  plausibilities,  sink  into  oblivion. 
The  restless  appetite  of  the  human  mind  for  specu- 
lation, must  have  novelties  to  feed  upon — and  after 
the  countless  fluctuations  of  two  thousand  years, 
the  age  in  which  we  live  has  its  own  taste,  and  its 
own  style  of  sentiment  to  characterize  it.  If  Paul, 
vested  with  a  new  apostolical  commission,  were  to 
make  his  appearance  amongst  us,  we  should  like  to 
know  how  he  would  shape  his  argument  to  the  reign- 
ing taste  and  philosophy  of  the  times.  We  should 
like  to  confront  him  with  the  literati  of  the  day, 
and  hear  him  lift  his  intrepid  voice  in  our  halls  and 
colleges.  In  his  speech  to  the  men  of  Athens,  he 
refers  to  certain  of  their  own  poets.  We  should  like 
to  hear  his  references  to  the  poetry  and  the  publi- 
cations of  modern  Europe — and  while  the  science 


342  THE  REASONABLENESS  OF  FAITH. 

of  this  cultivated  age  stood  to  listen  in  all  the  pride 
of  academic  dignity,  we  should  like  to  know  the 
arguments  of  him  who  was  determined  to  know 
nothing  save  Jesus  Christ,  and  Him  crucified. 

But  all  this  is  little  better  than  the  indulgence 
of  a  dream.  St.  Paul  has  already  fought  the  good 
fight,  and  his  course  is  finished.  The  battles  of 
the  faith  are  now  in  other  hands — and  though  the 
Wxsdom,  and  the  eloquence,  and  the  inspiration  of 
Paul  have  departed  from  among  us,  yet  he  has  left 
behind  him  the  record  of  his  principles.  With  this 
for  our  guide,  we  may  attempt  to  do  what  he  him- 
self calls  upon  us  to  do.  We  may  attempt  to  be 
followers  of  him.  We  may  imitate  him  in  the  in- 
trepid avowal  of  his  principles — and  we  may  try, 
however  humbly  and  imperfectly,  to  imitate  his  style 
of  defending  them.  We  may  accommodate  our 
argument  to  the  reigning  principles  of  the  day.  We 
may  be  all  things  to  all  men — and  out  of  the  leading 
varieties  of  taste  and  of  sentiment  which  obtain  in 
the  present  age,  and  in  the  present  country,  we 
may  try  if  we  can  collect  something,  which  may  be 
turned  into  an  instrument  of  conviction  for  reclaim- 
ing men  from  their  delusions,  and  shutting  them  up 
unto  the  faith. 

There  is  first,  then,  the  school  of  Natural  Reli- 
gion— a  school  founded  on  the  competency  of  the 
human  mind  to  know  God  by  the  exercise  of  its 
own  faculties — to  clothe  Him  in  the  attributes  of  its 
own  demonstration — to  serve  Him  by  a  worship 
and  a  law  of  its  own  discovery — and  to  assign  to 
Him  a  mode  of  procedure  in  the  administration  of 
this  vast  universe,  upon  the  strength  and  the  plausi- 


THE  REASONABLENESS  OF  FAITH.  34<5 

bility  of  its  own  theories.  We  have  not  time  at 
present  for  exposing  the  rash  and  unphilosophical 
audacity  of  all  these  presumptions.  We  lay  hold 
of  one  of  them ;  and  we  maintain,  that  if  steadily 
adhered  to,  and  consistently  carried  into  its  con- 
sequences, it  would  empty  the  school  of  natural 
religion  of  all  its  disciples — it  would  shut  them  up 
unto  the  faith,  and  impress  one  rapid  and  universal 
movement  into  the  school  of  Christ.  The  princi- 
ple which  we  allude  to  makes  a  capital  figure  in 
their  self-formed  speculations;  and  it  is  neither 
more  nor  less  than  the  judicial  government  of  God 
over  moral  and  accountable  creatures.  They  hold 
that  there  is  a  law.  They  hold  the  human  race  to 
be  bound  to  obedience.  They  hold  the  authority  of 
the  law  to  be  supported  by  sanctions;  and  that  the 
truth,  and  justice,  and  dignity  of  the  supreme  Being 
are  involved  in  these  sanctions  being  enforced  and 
executed.  One  step  more,  and  they  are  fairly  shut 
up  unto  the  faith.  That  law  which  they  hold  to  be 
in  full  authority  and  operation  over  us,  has  been 
most  unquestionably  violated.  We  appeal,  as  Paul 
did  before  us,  to  the  actual  state  of  the  human  heart, 
and  of  human  performances.  We  ask  them  to  open 
their  eyes  to  the  world  around  them — to  respect, 
like  true  philosophers,  the  evidence  of  observation, 
and  not  to  flinch  from  the  decisive  undeniable  fact 
which  this  evidence  lays  before  them.  Men  are 
under  the  law,  and  that  law  they  have  violated. 
*'  There  is  not  a  just  man  on  earth,  that  sinneth 
not."  It  is  not  to  open  shameless  and  abandoned 
profligacy,  that  we  are  pointing  your  attention. 
We  make  our  confident  appeal  to  the  purest  and 


344  THE  REASONABLENESS  OF  FAITH. 

loveliest  of  the  species.  We  rest  our  cause  with 
the  most  virtuous  individual  of  our  nature.  '^^  We 
enter  his  heart,  and  from  what  passes  there,  we  can 
gather  enough,  and  more  than  enough,  to  overthrow 
this  tottering  and  unsupported  fabric.  We  take  a 
survey  of  its  desires,  its  wishes,  its  aiFections — 
and  we  put  the  question  to  the  consciousness  of  its 
possessor,  if  all  these  move  in  obedient  harmony- 
even  to  the  law  of  natural  religion.  The  external 
conduct  viewed  separately  and  in  itself,  is,  in  the 
eye  of  every  enlightened  moralist,  nothing.  It  is 
mere  visible  display.  Virtue  consists  in  the  motive 
which  lies  behind  it;  and  the  soul  is  the  place  of 
its  essential  residence.  Bring  the  soul  then  into 
immediate  comparison  with  the  law  of  God.  Think 
of  the  pure  and  spiritual  service  which  it  exacts 
from  you.  Amid  all  the  busy  and  complicated 
movements  of  the  inner  man,  is  there  no  estrange- 
ment from  God  ?  Are  there  no  tumultuous  wan- 
derings from  that  purity,  and  goodness,  and  truth, 
which  even  philosophers  ascribe  to  Him?  Is  there 
no  shortcoming  from  the  holiness  of  His  law,  and 
the  magnificence  of  His  eternity  ?  Is  there  no 
slavish  devotion  to  the  paltry  things  of  sense  and 
of  the  world  ?  Is  there  no  dreary  interval  of  hours 
together,  when  God  is  unfelt  and  unthought  of? 
Is  there  no  one  time  when  the  mind  delivers  itself 
up  to  the  guidance  of  its  own  feelings,  and  its  own 
vanities — when  it  moves  at  a  distance  from  heaven 
— and,  whether  in  solitude  or  among  acquaintances, 
carries  along,  without  any  reference  to  that  Being 
whose  arm  is  perpetually  upon  me ;  who,  at  this 
moment,  is  at  my  right  hand,  and  measures  out  to 


THE   REASONABLENESS  OF  FAITH.  345 

me  every  hairbreadth  of  my  existence — who  upholds 
me  through  every  point  of  that  time  which  runs  from 
the  first  cry  of  my  infancy,  to  that  dark  hour  when 
the  weight  of  my  dying  agonies  is  upon  me — whose 
love  and  whose  kindness  are  ever  present,  to  give 
me  every  breath  which  I  draw,  and  every  comfort 
which  I  enjoy  ?  We  grant  the  disciples  of  natural 
religion  the  truth  of  their  own  principle,  that  we 
are  under  the  mora,l  government  of  the  Almighty 
— and  by  the  simple  addition  of  one  undeniable 
fact  to  their  speculation,  we  shut  them  up  unto  the 
faith.  The  simple  fact  is,  that  we  are  rebels  to 
that  government;  and  the  punishment  of  these  rebels 
is  due  to  the  vindication  of  its  insulted  authority. 
To  say,  that  God  will  perpetually  interpose  with 
an  act  of  oblivion,  would  be  vastly  convenient  for 
us — but  what  then  becomes  of  that  moral  govern- 
ment which  figures  away  in  the  demonstrations  of 
moralists  ?  Does  it  turn  out  after  all,  to  be  no- 
thing more  than  an  idle  and  unmeaning  declamation, 
on  which  they  love  to  expatiate — without  any  thing 
like  real  attention  or  belief  on  the  part  of  the 
thinking  principle?  If  they  are  not  true  to  their 
own  professed  convictions,  we  can  undertake  to 
shut  them  up  to  nothing.  This  is  slipping  from 
under  us — but  it  is  by  an  actual  desertion  of  their 
own  principle.  If  you  cannot  get  them  to  stand 
to  the  argument,  the  argument  is  discharged  upon 
them  in  vain.  If  this  be  the  result,  we  do  not 
promise  ourselves  that  all  we  can  say  shall  have 
any  weight  upon  their  convictions — not,  however, 
oecause  they  have  gained  a  victory,  but  because 
they  have  betaken  themselves  to  flight.  At  the 
p2 


346  THE   REASONABLENESS  OF  FAITH. 

very  moment  that  we  thought  of  shuttmg  them  up, 
and  binding  them  in  captivity  to  the  obedience  of 
the  truth,  they  have  turned  about  and  got  away 
from  us — but  how  ?  By  an  open  renunciation  of 
their  own  principle.  Look  at  the  great  majority 
of  infidel  and  demi-infidel  authors,  and  they  concur 
in  representing  man  as  an  accountable  subject,  and 
God  as  a  judge  and  a  lawgiver.  Examine  then 
the  account  which  this  subject  has  to  render — and 
you  w  ill  see,  in  characters  too  glaring  to  be  resisted, 
that  with  the  purest  and  most  perfect  individual 
amongst  us,  it  is  a  wretched  account  of  guilt  and 
deficiency.  What  make  you  of  this  ?  Is  the 
subject  to  rebel  and  disobey  every  hour,  and  the 
King,  by  a  perpetual  act  of  indulgence,  to  efface 
every  character  of  truth  and  dignity  from  His 
government?  Do  this,  and  you  depose  the  legis- 
lator from  His  throne.  You  reduce  the  sanctions 
of  His  law  to  a  name  and  a  mockery.  You  give 
the  lie  to  your  own  speculation.  You  pull  the 
fabric  of  His  moral  government  to  pieces — and  you 
give  a  spectacle  to  angels  which  makes  them  weep 
compassion  on  your  vanity — poor,  pigmy,  perishable 
man,  prescribing  a  way  to  the  Eternal,  and  bring- 
ing down  the  high  economy  of  Heaven  to  the 
standard  of  his  convenience,  and  his  wishes.  This 
will  never  do.  If  there  be  any  truth  in  the  law 
of  God  over  the  creatures  whom  He  has  formed, 
and  if  that  law  we  have  trampled  upon,  we  are 
amenable  to  its  sentence.  Ours  is  the  dark  and 
unsheltered  state  of  condemnation — and  if  there  be 
a  single  outlet  or  way  of  escaping,  it  cannot  be 
such  a  way  as  will  abolish  the  law,  and  degrade 


THE  REASONABLENESS  OF  FAITH.  347 

the  Lawgiver — but  it  must  be  such  a  way  as 
will  vindicate  and  exalt  the  Deity— as  *  will 
pour  a  tide  of  splendour  over  the  majesty  of 
His  high  attributes — and  as  in  the  sublime  lan- 
guage of  the  prophet,  who  saw  it  from  afar,  will 
magnify  His  law,  and  make  it  honourable.  To 
this  way  we  are  fairly  shut  up.  It  is  our  only 
alternative.  It  is  offered  to  us  in  the  Gospel  of 
the  New  Testament.  I  am  the  way,  says  the 
Author  of  that  Gospel,  and  by  me,  if  any  man 
enter  in,  he  shall  be  saved.  In  the  appointment 
of  this  Mediator — in  His  death,  to  make  propitia- 
tion for  the  sins  of  the  world — in  His  triumph  over 
the  powers  of  darkness — in  the  voice  heard  from 
the  clouds  of  heaven,  and  issuing  from  the  mouth 
of  God  himself,  "  This  is  my  beloved  Son,  in 
whom  I  am  well  pleased" — in  the  resistless  argu- 
ment of  the  Apostle,  who  declares  God  to  be  just, 
and  the  justifier  of  him  that  believeth  in  Jesus — 
in  the  undoubted  miracles  which  accompanied  the 
preaching  of  this  illustrious  personage,  and  His 
immediate  followers — in  the  noble  train  of  prophecy, 
of  which  He  was  the  object  and  the  termination 
— in  the  choir  of  angels  from  heaven,  who  sung 
His  entrance  into  the  world — and  in  the  sublime 
ascension  from  the  grave,  which  carried  him  away 
from  it — in  all  this  we  see  a  warrant  and  a  security 
given  to  the  work  of  our  redemption  in  the  New 
Testament,  before  which  philosophy  and  all  her 
speculations  vanish  into  nothing.  Let  us  betake 
ourselves  to  this  way.  Let  us  rejoice  in  being 
shut  up  unto  it.  It  is  passing,  in  fact,  from  death 
unto  life — or,  from  our  being  under  the  law,  which 


348  THE  REASONABLENESS  OF  FAITHc 

speaks  tribulation  and  wrath  to  every  soul  of  man 
that  doeth  evil,  to  being  under  the  grace  which 
speaks  quietness  and  assurance  for  ever  to  all  that 
repair  to  it.  The  scripture  hath  concluded  all  to 
be  under  sin,  that  the  promise  by  faith  of  Jesus 
Christ  might  be  given  to  them  that  believe. 

We  now  pass  on  from  the  school  of  natural  reli- 
gion to  another  school,  possessing  distinct  features 
— and  of  v/hich  we  conceive  the  most  expressive 
designation  to  be,  the  school  of  Classical  Morality, 
The  lessons  of  this  school  are  given  to  the  public 
in  the  form  of  periodical  essays,  elaborate  disser- 
tations on  the  principles  of  virtue,  eloquent  and 
often  highly  interesting  pictures  of  its  loveliness  and 
dignity,  the  charm  that  it  imparts  to  domestic 
retirement,  and  its  happy  subservience  to  the  peace, 
and  order,  and  well-being  of  society.  It  differs 
from  the  former  school  in  one  leading  particular. 
It  does  not  carry  in  its  speculations  so  distinct  and 
positive  a  reference  to  the  Supreme  Being.  It  is 
true,  that  our  duties  to  Him  are  found  to  occupy 
a  place  in  the  catalogue  of  its  virtues  ;  but  then  the 
principle  on  which  they  are  made  to  rest,  is  not  the 
will  of  God,  or  obedience  to  His  law.  They  are 
rather  viewed  as  a  species  of  moral  accomplishment 
— the  effect  of  which  is  to  exalt  and  embellish  the 
individual.  They  form  a  component  part  of  what 
they  call  virtue — but  if  virtue  be  looked  upon  in 
no  other  light  than  as  the  dress  of  the  mind,  we 
maintain,  that  in  the  act  of  admiring  this  dress,  and 
of  even  attempting  to  put  it  on,  you  may  stand  at 
as  great  a  distance  from  God,  and  He  be  as  little 
in  your  thoughts,  as  in  the  tasteful  choice  of  your 


THE  HEASONABLENESS  OF  FAITH.  349 

apparel,  for  the  dress  and  ornament  of  the  body. 
The  object  of  these  writers  is  not  to  bring  their 
readers  under  a  sense  of  the  dominion  and  authority 
of  God.  The  main  principle  of  their  morality,  is 
not  to  please  God,  but  to  adorn  man — to  throw  the 
splendour  of  virtue  and  accomplishment  around 
him — to  bring  him  up  to  what  they  call  the  end 
and  the  dignity  of  his  being — to  raise  him  to  the 
perfection  of  his  nature — and  to  rear  a  spectacle 
for  the  admiration  of  men  and  of  angels,  whom  they 
figure  to  look  down  with  rapture,  from  their  high 
eminence,  on  the  perseverance  of  a  mortal  in  the 
career  of  worth,  and  integrity,  and  honour.  This 
is  all  very  fine.  It  makes  a  good  picture — but 
what  we  insist  upon  is,  that  it  is  a  fancy  picture ; 
that,  without  the  limits  of  Christianity  and  its 
influence,  you  will  not  meet  with  a  single  family,  or 
a  single  individual,  to  realize  it — that  the  whole  range 
of  human  experience  furnishes  no  resemblance  to  it 
— and  that  it  is  as  unlike  to  what  we  find  among  the 
men  of  the  world,  or  in  the  familiar  walks  of  society, 
as  the  garden  of  Eden  is  unlike  the  desolation 
of  a  pestilence.  The  representation  is  beautiful 
— but  more  flattering  than  it  is  fair.  It  is  a  gaudy 
deception,  and  stands  at  as  great  a  distance  from 
the  truth  of  observation,  as  it  does  from  the  truth 
of  the  New  Testament.  There  is  positively  nothing 
like  it  in  the  whole  round  of  human  experience. 
It  is  the  mere  glitter  of  imagination.  It  may  serve 
to  throw  a  tinsel  colouring  over  the  pages  of  an 
ambitious  eloquence — ^but  with  business  and  reaUty 
for  our  objects,  we  may  describe  trie  lO'iX  of  many 
thousand  families,  or  take  our  station  for  years  in 


350  THE  REASONABLENESS  OF  FAITH. 

the  market-place,  and  in  our  attempts  to  realize 
the  picture  which  has  been  laid  before  us,  we  will 
be  sure  to  meet  with  nothing  but  vanity,  fatigue, 
and  disappointment.  Now,  the  question  we  have 
to  put  to  the  disciples  of  this  school  is,  are  they 
really  sincere  in  this  admiration  of  virtue  ?  Is  it  a 
true  process  of  sentiment  within  them  ?  We  are 
willing  to  share  in  their  admiration,  and  to  ascend 
the  highest  summit  of  moral  excellence  along  with 
them.  We  join  issue  with  them  on  their  own 
principle,  and  coupling  it  with  the  obvious  and 
undeniable  fact  of  man's  depravity,  we  shut  them  up 
unto  the  faith.  Virtue  is  the  idol  which  they  profess 
to  venerate — and  this  virtue,  as  it  exists  in  their 
own  conceptions,  and  figures  in  their  own  disserta- 
tions, they  cannot  find.  In  proportion  to  their 
regard  for  virtue,  must  be  their  disappointment  at 
missing  her — and  when  w^e  witness  the  ardour  of 
their  sentiments,  and  survey  the  elegance  of  their 
high- wrought  pictures,  what  must  be  the  humiliation 
of  these  men,  we  think,  when  they  look  on  the  world 
around  them,  and  contrast  the  purity  of  their  own 
sketches,  with  the  vices  and  the  degradation  of  the 
species.  Grosser  beings  may  be  satisfied  with  the 
average  morality  of  mankind — but  if  there  be  any 
truth  in  their  high  standard  of  perfection,  or  any 
sincerity  in  their  aspirations  after  it,  it  is  impossible 
that  they  can  be  satisfied.  By  one  single  step  do 
we  lead  them  from  the  high  tone  of  academic  senti- 
ment, to  the  sober  humility  of  the  Gospel.  Give 
them  their  time  to  expatiate  on  virtue,  and  they 
cannot  be  too  loud  or  eloquent  in  her  praises.  We 
have  only  a  single  sentence  to  add  to  theii'  descrip- 


THE  REASONABLENESS  OF  FAITH.  351 

tion :  The  picture  is  beautiful,  but  on  the  whole 
surface  of  the  world  we  defy  them  to  fasten  upon 
one  exemplification — and  by  every  grace  which 
they  have  thrown  around  their  idol,  and  every 
addition  they  have  made  to  her  loveUness,  they 
have  only  thrown  mankind  at  a  distance  more 
helpless  and  more  irrecoverable  from  their  high 
standard  of  duty  and  of  excellence. 

The  tasteful  admirer  of  eloquent  description  and 

beautiful  morality,  turns  with  disgust  from  those 

mortifying  pictures  of  man,  which  abound  in  the 

New  Testament.      We  only  ask  them  to  combine, 

with  all  this  finery  and  eloquence,  what  has  been 

esteemed  as  the  best  attribute  of  a  philosopher, 

respect  for  the  evidence  of  observation.      We  ask 

them  to  look  at  man  as  he  is,  and  compare  him 

with  man  as  they  would  have  him  to  be.      If  they 

find  that  he  falls  miserably  short  of  their  ideal 

standard  of  excellence,  what  is  this  but  making  a 

principle  of  their  own  the  instrument  of  shutting 

them  up  unto  the  faith  of  the  Gospel,  or,  at  least, 

shutting  them  up  unto  one  of  the  most  peculiar  of 

its  doctrines,  the  depravity  of  our  nature,  or  the 

dismal  ravage  which  the  power  of  sin  has  made 

upon  the  moral  constitution  of  the  species  ?      The 

doctrine  of   the   academic  moralist,  so   far   from 

reaching  a  wound  to  the  doctrine  of  the  Apostle, 

gives  an  additional  energy  to  all  his  sentiments. 

"  My  mind  approves  the  things  which  are  more 

excellent,  but  how  to  perform  that  which  is  good, 

I  find  not."      "  I  delight  in  the  law  of  God  after 

the  inward  man."      "  But  the  good  that  I  would 

I  do  not,  and  the  evil  that  I  would  not,  that  I  do." 


352  -  THE  REASONABLENESS  OF  FAITH, 

But  the  faith  of  the  Gospel  does  not  stop  here. 
It  does  not  rest  satisfied  with  shutting  us  up  unto 
a  behef  of  the  fact  of  human  depravity.  That 
depravity  it  proposes  to  do  away.  It  professes 
itself  equal  to  the  mighty  achievement  of  rooting 
out  the  deeply  seated  corruption  of  our  nature — of 
making  us  new  creatures  in  Christ  Jesus — of  de- 
stroying the  old  man  and  his  deeds,  and  bringing 
every  rebellious  movement  within  us  under  the 
dominion  of  a  new  and  a  better  principle.  If  sin- 
cere in  your  admiration  of  virtue,  you  are  shut  up 
unto  the  only  expedient  for  the  re-estabhshment  of 
virtue  in  the  world.  That  expedient  is  the  Spirit 
of  God  working  in  the  heart  of  beUevers — quickening 
those  who  were  dead  in  trespasses  and  sins,  and 
bringing  into  action  the  same  mighty  power  which 
raised  Jesus  from  the  grave,  for  raising  us  who 
believe  in  Jesus  to  newness  of  life  and  of  obedience. 
This  is  the  process  of  sanctification  laid  before  us 
in  the  New  Testament.  A  wonderful  process  it 
undoubtedly  is — but  are  we  who  walk  in  a  world 
of  mystery,  who  have  had  only  a  few  little  years  to 
look  about  us,  and  are  bewildered  at  every  step 
amid  the  variety  of  God's  works  and  of  His  counsels, 
are  we  to  reject  a  process  because  it  is  wonderful  ? 
Must  no  step,  no  operation  of  the  mighty  God  be 
admitted,  till  it  is  brought  under  the  dominion  of 
our  faculties? — and  shall  we  who  strut  ourhttle  hour 
in  the  humblest  of  His  mansions,  prescribe  a  law 
to  Him  whose  arm  is  abroad  upon  all  worlds,  and 
whose  eye  can  take  in,  at  a  single  glance,  the  un- 
measurable  fields  of  creation  and  providence  ?  Be 
it  as  wonderful  as  it  may — enoueh  for  us  that  it  is 


THE  REASONABLENESS  OF  FAITH.  353 

made  sure  by  the  distinct  and  authentic  testimony 
of  heaven — and  if,  from  the  mouth  of  Jesus,  who 
is  heaven's  messenger,  we  are  told,  that  *'  unless  a 
man  be  born  of  the  Spirit,  he  cannot  enter  into 
the  kingdom,"  it  is  our  part  submissively  to  ac- 
quiesce, and  humbly  to  pray  for  it.  Whatever 
repugnance  others  may  feel  to  this  part  of  the 
revealed  counsels  of  God,  those  who  look  to  a 
sublime  standard  of  moral  excellence,  and  sigh  for 
the  establishment  of  its  authority  in  the  world, 
ought  to  rejoice  in  it.  It  is  the  only  remaining 
expedient  for  giving  effect  and  reality  to  their  own 
declamations,  and  they  are  fairly  shut  up  unto  it. 
Long  have  they  tried  to  repair  the  disorders  of  a 
ruined  world.  Many  an  expedient  has  been  fallen 
upon.  Temples  have  been  reared  to  science  and 
to  virtue — and  from  the  lofty  academic  chair,  the 
wisdom  of  this  world  has  lifted  its  voice  amid  a 
crowd  of  hstening  admirers.  For  thousands  of 
years,  the  unaided  powers  and  principles  of  huma- 
nity, have  done  their  uttermost — and  tell  us,  ye 
advocates  for  the  dignity  of  the  species,  the  amount 
of  their  operation.  If  you  refuse  to  answer,  we 
shall  answer  for  you— and  do  not  hesitate  to  say, 
that  mighty  in  promise,  and  wretched  in  accom- 
plishment, you  have  positively  done  nothing— that 
all  the  wisdom  of  the  schools,  and  all  its  vapouring 
demonstrations,  have  not  had  the  least  perceptible 
weight,  when  brought  to  bear  upon  the  mass  of 
human  character,  and  human  performance— that 
the  corruption  of  the  inner  man  has  not  yielded  at 
all  to  yoar  reasoning,  and  remains  as  unsubdued 
and  as  obstinate  a  principle  as  ever— that  the  power 


354  THE  REASONABLENESS  OF  FAITH. 

of  depravity  in  the  soul  of  man  is  beyond  you— and 
that  setting  aside  the  real  operation  of  Christianity 
in  the  hearts  of  individuals,  and  the  surface  dressing 
which  the  hand  of  legislation  has  thrown  over  the 
face  of  society,  the  human  soul,  if  seen  in  its  naked- 
ness, would  still  be  seen  in  all  its  original  deformity 
— as  strong  in  selfishness,  as  lawless  in  propensity, 
as  devoted  to  sense  and  to  time,  as  estranged  from 
God,  as  unmindful  of  the  obedience,  and  as  indif- 
ferent to  the  reward  and  the  inheritance  of  His 
children. 

The  machine  has  gone  into  disorder — and  there 
is  not  a  single  power  within  the  compass  of  the 
machinery  itself  that  is  able  to  repair  it.  You 
must  do  as  you  do  in  other  cases — you  must  have 
recourse  to  some  external  application.  The  in- 
efficacy  of  every  tried  expedient  shuts  you  up  unto 
the  only  remaining  one.  Every  human  principle 
has  been  brought  to  bear  upon  it  in  vain ;  and  we 
are  shut  up  unto  the  necessity  of  some  other  prin- 
ciple that  is  beyond  humanity,  and  above  it.  The 
Spirit  of  God  is  that  mighty  principle.  That  Spirit 
which  moved  on  the  face  of  the  waters,  and  made 
light,  and  peace,  and  beauty  to  emerge  out  of  the 
wild  war  of  nature  and  her  elements,  is  the  revealed 
agent  of  Heaven,  for  repairing  the  disorders  of  sin, 
and  restoring  the  moral  croation  of  God  to  health 
and  to  loveliness.  It  will  create  us  anew  unto  good 
works.  It  will  make  us  again  after  that  image  in 
which  we  were  originally  formed.  It  will  sanctify 
us  by  the  faith  that  is  in  Jesus.  And  by  that 
mighty  power  whereby  it  is  able  to  subdue  all  things 
unto  itself,  it  will  obtain  the  victory  over  that  spirit 


THE  REASONABLENESS  OF  FAITH.  355 

which  now  worketh  m  the  children  of  disobedience. 
The  resurrection  of  Jesus  from  the  dead  is  the  first 
fruit  of  its  operation — and  to  him  who  beheves  it  is 
the  satisfying  pledge  of  its  future  triumphs.  That 
body,  which,  left  to  itself,  would  have  mouldered 
into  fragments,  is  now  in  all  the  bloom  of  immor- 
tality, at  the  right  hand  of  the  everlasting  throne. 
We  have  tried  the  operation  of  a  thousand  principles 
in  vain.  Let  us  repair  to  this,  so  great  in  promise, 
and  so  mighty  in  performance.  It  has  already 
achieved  its  wonders.  It  has  wrought  those  mir- 
acles of  faith  and  fortitude  which,  in  the  first  ages 
of  Christianity,  threw  a  gleam  of  triumph  over  the 
horrors  of  martyrdom.  It  has  given  us  displays  of 
the  great  and  the  noble  which  are  without  example 
in  history — and  from  the  first  moment  of  its  oper- 
ation in  the  world,  it  has  been  working  in  those 
unseen  retirements  of  the  cottage  and  the  family, 
where  the  eye  of  the  historian  never  penetrates. 
The  admirers  of  virtue  are  fairly  shut  up  unto  the 
faith — for  faith  is  the  only  avenue  that  leads  to  it. 
"  To  your  faith  add  virtue,"  says  the  Apostle — 
and  that  you  may  be  able  to  make  the  addition, 
the  promise  of  the  Spirit  is  given  to  them  that 
believe. 

We  should  now  pass  on  to  another  school,  the 
school  of  fine  feeling  and  poetical  sentiment.  It 
differs  from  the  former  in  this — that  while  the  one, 
in  its  dissertations  on  virtue,  carries  us  up  to  the 
principles  of  duty,  the  other  paints  and  admires  it 
as  a  tasteful  exhibition  of  what  is  fair  and  lovely  in 
human  character.  The  one  makes  virtue  its  idol 
because  of  its  rectitude  ;  the  other  makes  virtue  its 


356  THE   REASONABLENESS  OF  FAITH. 

idol  because  of  its  beauty — and  the  process  of 
reasoning  by  which  they  are  shut  up  unto  the  faith, 
is  the  same  in  both.  Look  at  the  actual  state  of 
the  world,  and  we  find  that  both  the  rectitude  and 
the  beauty  are  a-wanting.  If  you  admire  the  one, 
and  love  the  other,  you  are  shut  up  unto  the  only 
expedient  that  is  able  to  restore  them — and  that 
expedient  is  sanctioned  by  the  truth  of  heaven,  and 
has  all  the  power  of  omnipotence  employed  in 
giving  effect  to  the  operation — the  Spirit  of  God 
subduing  all  things  unto  itself — putting  the  law 
in  our  hearts,  and  writing  it  in  our  minds — and  by 
bringing  the  soul  of  man  under  the  influence  of 
"whatsoever  things  are  pure,  or  honest,  or  lovely, 
or  of  good  report,"  creating  a  finer  spectacle,  and 
rearing  a  fairer  and  more  unfading  flower,  than  ever 
grew  in  the  gardens  of  poeti'y. 

The  processes  are  so  entirely  similar,  that  we 
would  not  have  made  it  the  distinct  object  of  your 
attention,  had  it  not  been  for  the  sake  of  an  argu- 
ment in  behalf  of  the  faith,  which  may  be  addressed 
with  great  advantage  to  the  literary  and  cultivated 
orders  of  society.  There  are  few  people  of 
literary  cultivation,  who  have  not  read  a  novel.  In 
this  fictitious  composition,  there  are  often  one  or  two 
perfect  characters  that  figure  in  the  history,  and 
delight  the  imagination  of  the  reader — and  you  are 
at  last  landed  in  some  fairy  scene  of  happiness  and 
virtue,  which  it  is  quite  charming  to  contemplate, 
and  which  you  would  like  to  aspire  after — perhaps 
some  interesting  family  in  the  bosom  of  which  love, 
and  innocence,  and  tranquillity,  have  fixed  them- 
selves— where  the  dark  and  angry  passions  never 


THE  REASONABLENESS  OF  FAITH.  357 

enter — where  suspicion  is  unknown,  and  every  eye 
meets  another  in  the  full  glance  of  cordiality  and 
aifection — where  charity  reigns  triumphant,  and 
smiles  beneficence  and  joy  upon  the  humble  cottages 
which  surround  it.  Now  this  is  very  soothing,  and 
very  delightful.  It  makes  one  glad  to  think  of  it. 
The  fancy  swells  with  rapture,  and  the  moral 
principle  of  our  nature  lends  its  full  approbation 
to  a  scene  so  virtuous  and  so  exemplary.  So  much 
for  the  dream  of  fancy.  Let  us  compare  it  with 
the  waking  images  of  truth.  Walk  from  Dan 
to  Beersheba ;  and  tell  us,  if,  without  and  beyond 
the  operation  of  Gospel  motives  and  Gospel 
principles,  the  reality  of  life  ever  furnished  a 
picture  that  is  at  all  like  the  elegance  and  perfec- 
tion of  this  fictitious  history.  Go  to  the  finest 
specimen  of  such  a  family.  Take  your  secret 
stand,  and  observe  them  in  their  more  retired  and 
invisible  moments.  It  is  not  enough  to  pay  them 
a  ceremonious  visit,  and  observe  them  in  the  put 
on  manners  and  holiday  dress  of  general  company. 
Look  at  them  when  all  this  disguise  and  finery  are 
thrown  aside.  Yes,  we  have  no  doubt,  that  you 
will  perceive  some  love,   some   tenderness,   some 

virtue but  the  rough  and  untutored  honesty  of 

truth  compels  us  to  say,  that  along  with  all  this, 
there  are  at  times  mingled  the  bitterness  of  invec- 
tive, the  growlings  of  discontent,  the  harpings  of 
peevishness  and  animosity,  and  all  that  train  of 
angry,  suspicious,  and  discordant  feelings,  which 
embitter  the  heart  of  man,  and  make  the  reaUty  of 
human  life  a  very  sober  affair  indeed,  when  com^ 


358  THE  REASONABLENESS  OF  FAITH. 

pared  with  the  high  colouring  of  romance,  and  the 
sentimental  extravagance  of  poetry. 

Now,  what  do  we  make  of  all  this  ?  We  infer, 
that  however  much  we  may  love  perfection,  and 
aspire  after  it,  yet  there  is  some  want,  some  disease 
in  the  constitution  of  man,  which  prevents  his 
attainment  of  it — that  there  is  a  feebleness  of  prin- 
ciple about  him — that  the  energy  of  his  practice 
does  not  correspond  to  the  fair  promises  of  his 
fancy — and  however  much  he  may  delight  in  an 
ideal  scene  of  virtue  and  moral  excellence,  there  is 
some  lurking  malignity  in  his  constitution,  which, 
without  the  operation  of  that  mighty  power  revealed 
to  us  in  the  Gospel,  makes  it  vain  to  wish,  and 
hopeless  to  aspire  after  it. 


END  OF  VOLUME  SEVENTH. 


25B1YR..    ]6 

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